


Kindness is Free

by LeaStone



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AHHHHHHHHHHHH, Alternate Universe - Bittybones, Angst, Carrot - Freeform, Cuddles, Feels, Fluff, Honey, Hoodie, Hoodie loves cuddles, I don't have a schedule, I'm killing myself writing this, I'm trying to fluff dont judge me, Little edgy is edgy, Maybe - Freeform, No Smut, Other, Panic Attacks, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader has multicolored soul, Reader is a mage, Sadness, So don't expect chapters everyday, Swap paps is cool, Things will get kinda dark, Tsundere Red, bitty suggestions are welcome, careful now, depictions of harming, i'm running out of ideas ;-;, it's not something I write, ketchup, maybe Scarf finds Lea's Whiskey stash, probs inktale sans but i don't know, protective bitties, reader is female, scarf, swap sans is a protective little smol, there is fluff, why am I doing this to myself, you're in feels territory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2018-11-10 13:52:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 27,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11128215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeaStone/pseuds/LeaStone
Summary: Monsters were freed from the barrier a year ago, and people still don't accept them yet. Riots and complaints (With absolutely no proof) of violence were always being reported on the news.So many wrong things are happening.Everyone was acting like a toddler not getting their way.Then there's Leala.Frankly, she didn't give a crap about what anyone else thinks about monsters.She had her own opinion, and she was sticking with it. Everyone else can just SUCK IT.Leala resides in a small apartment. And has a boring-as-all-heck job with her friend Bob, who owns the Parking Garage business.She lived a normal life with normal friends and normal cliche losing of parents as is a constant in some MC's-Until she hears the shattering of glass.And then her life changes forever.





	1. Chapter One (I don't have creative chapter names.)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't know if I was gonna post this on AoW but I guess I have, so SCREW IT! I AM MY OWN SMOL HUMAN! >:D  
> muahahahaha!!!  
> Btw, I am Cadence Phoenix on Wattpad, I will post my story here as well- (please call me Lea, I made the Cadence account a long long time ago ^^;)

"Hey Lea, could you get those boxes over there?"

"Sure Bob!" You ran over and picked up a- OH LORD THAT'S HEAVY. You struggle to retain your grasp as you hand it to him.

"Thanks!" He smiles at you, and you rest your arms as he EASILY carries the box to the truck.  _HOLY FREAKING CRAP THAT FELT LIKE TWO TONS._

"How the HECK do you do that?" You ask while looking at him as he walks over, arms swinging to stretch.

"I work out." He raises a bicep and winks at you. You facepalm and chuckle at his childish demeanour.

"Yeah yeah..." You slide your hand down your face. He laughs as well, his green eyes sparkling with amusement as he picks up another box and does the same thing.

"I've almost got the rest of the load," Bob says as he picks up another box. "you can go ahead-" He was interrupted as glass shattered in the room next to them.

The garage.

"Crap... I'm gonna take a look." You say as you start to walk towards the large doors. But Bob grabbed your arm, gently, but firmly.

"Lea, what if it's a burglar?" You wince slightly as you heard the word, but you hid it immediately. "You could..."

"Bob," You stopped him. "Who would want to steal from here?" You immediately regretted the word choice, because he let go of your arm. You knew he cared about the worn down place.

After all, he is the son of the owner.

"Leala, this is a moving company." He stated. "Yes, I know that there is nothing  _we_  have that they would want to steal. But what about the stuff of our customers?" He glanced at the big doors.

"Okay, I'm sorry..." You really were."But I should really check it out though... Please?" You looked at him apologizing with your eyes, and begging at the same time.

Weird expressions.

"Fine." He conceded. "But please, don't get... hurt." He looked at you with worried eyes.

"Ha! Me? Get hurt? Psshhh. Yeah, in your wildest nightmares bud." You threw a karate chop at him and he didn't even flinch. He stared at you with doubt. "WELL, IT DIDN'T WORK ON YOU CAUSE YOU'RE STRONG!" You gave him a pout face.

A small smile carried its way on his face. "Shout if you need me, I'll be there like the flash." He said seriously.

"No worries." You smiled back.

You strode to the door opening it and walking inside.  _It opened silently... Thank God..._

You haven't really been in the garage. Well, to do a few errands, but you didn't look around very much.

You walked by some dusty brooms leaned up against the wall, and saw shelves lining the sides of the starting expanse, organised to go in rows. the concrete floor below you felt cold as you walk across it with thin shoes. _Why did I get these at the dollar store..._  You thought regretfully. wait- NOW ISN'T THE TIME TO BE WORRYING ABOUT SHOES, FOR PETE'S SAKE-

You passed a shelf, and your hair stood on end. You immediately hide behind it and look over your shoulder to reveal a LOT of indoor parking space.  _But the garage is closed today... Why is someone here?_

A brown pickup truck took up one of the spaces, and three men tossed around a box. The box was made of cardboard and sounded flimsy. One of the men started talking to the other, but you couldn't understand any of it. They were all faced away from you, you quickly look away for a second trying to figure out if you should call Bob or not.

No, you always end up asking him for help, Every time you need something. You're not going to rely on him for everything. You can't. It makes you feel like you're using him, and you don't like it.

You turn around and look over your shoulder again, only to see that they dropped the box and were getting back into the truck.  _Oh, good. They're leaving..._

They weren't leaving. They were staying in the garage.

Backing up.

Where the box was...

...

**_Are they going to run over it...?_ **

"This is what you get, you stupid monsters! Should never have come up here!" A man with a deep voice spits the last part out like venom.

"Have a nice time dying, you pathetic pieces of garbage!!!" Another nasty voice yells.

... This...

This was making you mad...

They were backing up faster. They threw the box quite ways away...

To revel in it maybe?

...

If that's the case...?

"OH  **HELL**  NAW!" You yelled as you ran towards the box.  _Ah..._

_Wait..._

_Oh no_

_WHY AM I RUNNING_ TOWARDS  _THE DANGER?!_

Dust kicking behind your heels, you ran across the cement flooring. You hear yelling to "Get OUT Of The Way!" But no way in HECK are you going to let them do this CRUELTY.

You get close enough to do a knee dive, so you knelt down while you tried to slide across the floor. Bad idea...

You scraped your knees and fell over in front of the box. "Dang it, that was a stupid Idea..." You wince and try to get up, then remembering what you came here to do in the first place.

Heart beating like a drum you pick up the box and hold it tight.

You try to get up to run back but... You can't and your legs buckle. Leading to a hefty ZAP of pain on your knee caps. They were bleeding now.

_Great._

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?!"  _The man with the deep voice is back... yay..._

_oh wait no-_

"Uhm... I-I was j-just" You start to stutter.  _DANG, NOT NOW-_

"That's mine!  **GIVE IT BACK**!!!" He reaches for the box and you jerk it away. Trying to protect whatever's inside  _OH WAIT CRAP THAT JERK COULD'VE-_ You look at the box apologetically. You couldn't speak to it, it would look like your crazy... wait.

"I'm sorry, I jerked it too hard..." You say to the box, maybe feigning insanity could help your chances of living?

_Dear God what am I doing..._

You hear faint shuffling inside. _WAIT WHAT._

You hear the guy grunt with rage and get back in the truck and pull something out.

It was a sleek black-

_GUN OH NO OH CRAP-_

He pointed it at you. "You dirty monster lover" He spat.

He was going to shoot you.

He was going to shoot you and you were going to fail at protecting the box's passengers.

You looked at the box again. Tears gathering in your eyes as you're reminded of the incident from your past. "It's not fair..." You hear your heart beating in your chest. "It's not fair monsters are treated like this..." Another shuffle from the box.

They were the same as everyone else!

They have souls like everyone else!

THIS IS JUST PLAIN RACISM! LITERALLY IN THIS CASE!

You hear the guy snicker. "That's what they should be treated like, they're disgusting." He spat on the ground. "That's why they're called 'monsters'."

A tear makes its way onto the cardboard as you hear him spew even more profanities about the kind creatures you had grown to enjoy having around.

"It's not right... They shouldn't treat you all like this..." You open your eyes again and realise that the box is more battered than you previously thought... Tears blur your vision, but you swear that you see a faint blue glow coming from a crack in the top.

Another beat from your chest sounds and your vision fades more.

You blink.

_"Now, Leala..." Mother said as she cupped your hand. "You know what I always said?"_

_You nod, and she continues. "Good," She pauses for a while, looking at you with a gentle smile. "I look upon a star..." Your eyes light up slightly as you sing along with the lyrics of your song._

If you were going to die here, you wanted to do it with a smile. And you wanted to die doing the right thing, like  _she_  did.

You shake yourself out of your memories, the truck was still parked but the engine was running. The wind blew from the open garage door, and your hair slightly swayed in the direction dust was blowing.

You hear the man say "Bye bye" By the sound of his tone, you could just hear the smile.

You look at the box as an idea comes into your mind.

"I look upon a star..." You started to sing. Well, it wasn't really singing, but you were doing something. The guy had confusion written on his face, but you didn't care. You wanted to remember Mother, and the kindness she taught you. And the courage she raised you with. "And I see night shift to day," Your voice trembled. How could it not?

You continue as you hear a gun cock and a guy grunt in frustration.

"I feel the grass grow, And I hear you next to me:" You smile weakly at the crack in the box. This is the only thing you could do.

You wanted to show them kindness, as your mother did to you.

"You are a blessing for my weak heart. You are the sunshine in the dark"

A triumphant sound rings through the garage and then a laughter. It sounded crazed.

"You're the gift that I'll never part with..." You close your eyes. "You're the missing puzzle piece I needed."

You hear the man bang the gun against the truck and laugh like he was meant to be in an asylum. He aims the gun, breathing calm... Like he'd done this before. You wouldn't be surprised if he had. A shot rings out as he fires the pistol.

He misses.

"I'll be there when the sky is blue, or rather when it's any hue." Tears start falling as your body shakes.

You hear another bang and a bullet whizzes behind your head, creating a sharp scratch on the back of your neck.

"I'll be here, with you." Another beating of your heart. You feel a tug in your chest as everything grows darker.

You open your eyes and look down as a green glow emanates from... well, you don't know where. It seemed like it was coming from the box but you couldn't tell.

You smile.

The song was over.

"I'll protect you..." You pause as a BIG tap on your shoulder took your mind off the song... A bullet went through your shoulder.

You shrug it off. (heh)

But not literally though, you felt no pain so you didn't scream in it.

"I won't let them hurt you anymore." You stood up. A determined look on your face, despite the tears that were still falling.

You don't even know how, but you did it. Yay.

But then there's still the guy with the gun.

You look at the man.

He looks at you and grins.

"Leave them BE..." You stare at him. He stares at you.

"WHY? THEY'RE MONSTERS!" He screams at you. And the other guys apparently were drinking in the truck, they come sauntering out of it. Vomiting on the concrete.

He raises the gun at you. The men on the floor got up and lazily pointed their guns at you.

_Oh... They had those too...? Ah...haha..._

You turn around, shielding the box with your body.

A wobbly smile made its way to your lips. "My mother always told me that the greatest good will always be pursued by a harmful evil. Maybe this is what she meant...? Heh... It... It was nice to meet you, even though I don't know what you look like..." Tears fall and hit the top of the cardboard as you chuckle a bit. "I meant it though," You look at the box as your face softens into a gentle smile.

_**"When I said I'd protect you."** _

The guns shoot.

But the bullets never made contact.


	2. WHAT?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're shot.  
> but you're... not shot?  
> ...  
> Whaaa??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wassup my radically radtastical brosephs!  
> I decided I was gonna update twice so there's more to read ^^  
> SO YE!

But the bullets never make contact.

You wait... Then flinch as another chorus of shots rang out again. Muffled pops explode around you, but other than that there was nothing.

You open your eyes and looked up, confused.  The wind was stronger now, and your hair was whipping in it.

You hear muffled curses and shouts from around you, and then banging right next to your face. You flinch back as you see the man with the deep voice banging on nothing.

_...What?_

Then he yelled a few more words and gave up. Looking tired and cold, he walked over to the truck and got in the driver's seat.

The others apparently gave up as well because they were already headed towards the truck as well.

_What?_

They drove off as everyone got in the car.

...

_WHAT._

"W..." You couldn't speak properly. "Wha- I-" Only syllables came out, forming incoherent sounds. "I-" Then you remembered the box.

"Oh LORD" You looked at it; and the crack in the top was no longer there, the box looked less battered... It looked brand new actually. "Wait... I thought for sure that there was a...?" you shake your head as you knelt down to inspect the insides and make sure they were okay.

You knelt down.

...

You... Knelt down...

... You can kneel?

You look at your shins and realize that there is no injury whatsoever.

Your shoulder is fine too.

"WHAT IN THE-" You cover your mouth with your hand and stop yourself from yelling.

_Right, the box._

You don't open it up yet because you wanted to let them know you were going to open it. If you were in this situation, you would not want to be surprised anymore.

"H-Hey," You say looking down at the box. voice echoing slightly due to the space of which you were kneeling. "I know you don't know me, I'm sorry that you had to go through that by the way, um..." Great now it sounded like you didn't care.  _Oh no... no, no I care! Crap, I hope they don't think I don't..._

"Uh... Okay." You were just going to be honest. Ah, you thought of the color yellow just now. "My name is Leala Frost." Great. Doing good. "If you don't want me to open the box... Uh... Tap the inside of it." You pause for a split second, but then realize that:  _What if they can't?!_  "If you can I mean! I'm sorry if I sounded rude by asking you this much after you went through, probably literally hell, but I just want to make sure you're okay! I don't mean you any harm!" You bite your lip as you realize it was probably like you were shouting at them. you lower your voice. "I'm sorry, I yelled a bit..." The leftover tears fell on your lap as you looked down in shame.

Your heart was pounding in your chest, so you barely heard the small tap on the inside of the box. You looked up in surprise. "...O-Okay. I won't open it then." You look around to see if those guys were back. "I do... um... Want to know if anyone is hurt." Then you realized that if you were in this situation, you wouldn't want to tell anything to  _anyone_. "Oh no, I'm sorry! If you don't want to tell me I understand completely... Not your situation I mean! I don't know anything at all, but from what I saw, they were tossing you all around... And I assumed that since they were doing that you probably were injured, and I didn't..." You realized you were rambling. "Sorry, I just want to help..."

You glanced back over to where the truck once was and glared.

You pause for a long while.

"Why are we so evil...?" You wonder why people do this, why everything about the monsters is negative. "Hey-" You looked back at the box and saw the top fall down a bit.  _Were they going to get out...?_ You shook your head, trying to ignore that you saw it.

"I'm sorry."  Your brown hair fell over your face as you remembered something, you decided to tell them. "One time, I drank a slushie too fast and got a brain freeze,"  _Oh... Why am I telling this story...?_   You thought you heard chuckling, but you brushed it off. They probably didn't want you to hear that. "Then I started shouting 'AH BRAIN FREEZE' and everyone looked at me and laughed..." You looked ahead. "A tall monster, ran over to me saying to everyone 'WHY ARE YOU NOT HELPING? THIS HUMANS BRAIN IS FREEZING!', then he puts his hands on my head and they started to get warm. I was cured of my brain freeze and I thanked him." You paused. Then you realized you were crying again.  _Dang it..._ "The next day I heard a report on the news of a monster assaulting a human. It was him, and me, with his hands on my head." You heard a gasp, then a quick 'shh!'... But you paid it no mind.

You hadn't realized you were shaking.

Oh.

You started to sob now.

Great.

Well, get it out while you can. "*hic* I mean why? Why *sniff* do we need to be so cruel to you all? It doesn't make sense!" _Great, a puddle now formed of my tears..._  You then hear something open the box.

You hear silent protests towards whoever did that.

"H...Human." You hear a quiet, but low voice jar you out of your thoughts. "There is no need to cry." You look up slowly, trying not to move too much. You opened your eyes...

A small skeleton with what looked like a knight costume on stood warily in front of you. A tattered blue scarf was tied behind his neck in a haphazard bow. He had dark gray boots, blue lining the top of them. Simple gray pants, and what looked like gray plastic armor over a faded white T-shirt.

He's so small... Like literally five inches.

If it weren't for the situation, you would have been squealing about how cute he is.

But not now...

Now...?

You just looked into his faded blue eyes(eye sockets?). Sorrow just bursting out of you SOUL as you heard the  _drip drip_  of your tears falling to the floor. "Yes, there is..." you replied, taking note of the flinch you got back from that answer. You spoke a bit more softly. "Those people..." A hint of anger crossed your mind, but you quickly silenced it in case it shown on your face. "They... I think those are the kinds of people I can never forgive." You look down. "Just hurting a monster because they're a monster." You shut your eyes, and ball your hands into fists. "Not caring about how the monster feels...? Or how much pain they are in?" You pause, looking at the ground. "It's not right!" You say in a slightly less inside voice.

_O-Oh, wait oh no did I scare them?_

You flinch as you think that, and look up slowly to see...

Three.

Three skeletons were standing on the box now.

The little blue one was crying, his eyes brighter... somehow? He's looking up at you... Smiling.  You blink away the blurry tears.

There was another one, the same height as the little blue skeleton. He wore a blue hoodie, black basketball shorts, and pink slippers. His grin gave off a casual vibe, but you knew he was being cautious. You can tell when a smile is real.

There was a taller skeleton, about six inches. He wore an orange hoodie with rust colored cargo shorts. Same relaxed-ish look as the blue hooded one. Wears orange sneakers.  _Hm... He reminds me of a carrot..._

You did an inner facepalm.

Why is your mind so weird...?

You didn't dare speak, for fear of making them afraid. So you just sat there and waited for them to do something. They all looked like they were ready for a battle.

The little blue one spoke up first.

"H-Human!" He started saying. Honestly, you have no idea what you expect him to say. "We can feel that you mean us no harm!" You stare at him, stunned. Suddenly taking in how quickly it took for them to come out of the box.

_Do they trust me? Or are they really good poker faces?_

You had a feeling they didn't trust you. You had to do something to show them you weren't like those humans. So you started speaking, surprisingly. "I... I know you don't trust me." They glanced at each other but said nothing. "So I'm going to give you something." You see them all tense up, as you reach to unclip the golden chain around your neck.

You pulled it out, and carefully held your mother's locket in your hands.

You look to them, knowing your face must show some kind of reluctance, but you continue. "This necklace... It was my mother's." You say softly. They keep looking at you, but you know that they're listening. You slowly set the locket down on the ground and move it towards them. "This locket is..." You stopped yourself. closing your eyes and taking a deep breath.  _Keep going, you can do this._  " This locket is my treasure." You finally said. The little blue scarfed skeleton looked up at you, making a 'what-are-you-getting-at' face. But the other two stand there, silently glancing at the locket then back at you.

"If I hurt you," You feel the wind slowly die down until there is silence. "You can..." You pause, the last of the tears gone from your eyes as you look at them. "You can do what you want with it." You let out a shaky sigh, as you finally said what you wanted to.

"..." The blue hoodie one looked at the locket, then suddenly his left eye socket lit up with a blue and yellow light.

Then he had the locket in his hands.

You made a surprised sound as the... let's just call him scarf for now. Scarf looked at its sparkling exterior with blue eyes as bright as the locket itself. "W-Why are you giving this to us if it is so important to you Human?" He asked, looking up at you.

"To show you I mean no harm." You replied, remembering to keep your voice down. "If I do, you can do what you wish to it."

"are you sure you want that?" The tall carrot one replied.

"Yes." You replied, even though you still cherished the locket, giving it to them meant that they had some leverage over you. Which probably gave them comfort.

It also meant that you were serious about what you said.

He looks at you, a small glow emanating from his right eye. Shrugging, he turns around. "whatever." Then out of nowhere a small bone appeared in front of the blue hoodie skeleton.

He grabs the bone and is about to stab the locket-

He is going to stab the locket.

The one your mother gave you before she died.

The locket that has your only picture of her inside...

It was like every movement he makes is in slow motion, you can  _feel_ your soul sinking further into a pit of sadness every time the bone gets closer to the golden heart.

You let out a whimper and close your eyes to save yourself from seeing her last remnant be destroyed.

You wait for the sound of shattering metal... And wait... And wait...

Eventually you look back up to see that the bone had stopped not even 1/3 of an inch from the golden surface.

"you really care about this uh... 'Locket', don't ya?" The bone holder asked.

Your heart was beating so hard you barely hear the voice. You weakly nod your head.

"huh..." The bone disappeared from his hands as he looks up to you, putting his hands in his hoodie pockets. "welp." He glances to carrot-  _Why am I calling the tall one carrot...?_ \- then over at the scarfed one.

The little blue guy was fidgeting with his hands as he looked up with his adorable blue eyes and said, "Human!" You look at him and slowly start to calm down. _The locket isn't broken... It isn't broken..._ As you think that, you hadn't noticed him walk closer to you until he put a hand on your knee. "I think we should trust you!" You look at him surprised. The other skeletons did too apparently, because carrot said something along the lines of: "Bro, seriously think about this." And hoodie over there said: "He's right.."

"Nonsense," Scarf turned around to face the other skeletons. "you felt it too!" They kind of blink(HOW), and mumble to themselves in reluctant agreement.

"F-Felt what...?" You ask hesitantly. The little guy in front of you turned around and said this, and I quote:

"Your SOUL of course!"

"My..."

_What?_

_..._

_MY WHAT?_


	3. You Get to See Your SOUL... Yay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically the title. XD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wassup, my wiggity waggity brosephs!  
> "Fresh get out of my body"  
> Nah! I'm comfy cozy just where I am!  
> "Fresh..."  
> ...  
> "Fresh."  
> ...  
> Please?  
> "..."  
> "...Fine."  
> Thanks brah, you're Super RAD!

 

_My..._

_WHAT?_

"My... SOUL?" You blink, currently processing what he just told you. He nodded enthusiastically as stars appeared in his eyes.

...Stars.

Again. HOW.

 "Yes, your SOUL!" He said, oh he was getting louder. Pretty loud for a bitty. Since they were so small, you would have assumed that they would be quieter, but nope, this guy was breaking the stereotypes. _I feel proud somehow..._  "The very culmination of your being!" He smiled.  _How is he smiling wider..._

You nod, a bit confused, but you get it... Kind of.

The only thing your mind could agree on describing this with, without having a brain malfunction is...

_Mmmmagic! *Inner Jazz Hands*_

"Wait... So do I have magic?" He nods, a bit slower than before. You widen your eyes in surprise and try to keep your mouth from spewing all the things rushing through your head right now.

A confused look makes its way onto his face. "Did you not know?" You shake your head. He blinks a couple of times before turning to the other two. You hear him say something but couldn't make out all the words except for 'what this means'.

The other two shrug.

It was quiet for a bit.

"what did you think of before you came running towards the box?" Hoodie asks suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Uh..." You try to remember. "I wanted to save you from being run over..." They all look at you.

"r-run over?" Carrot asks. You nod. His face turns into a scowl. "those guys..." His eye lights a blazing orange.

"B-Brother!" Scarf said, going over to him kneeling down and rubbing his shoulder. "It's okay we aren't there anymore, Miss Leala saved us!" Carrot calmed down a bit and Scarf looked to you with a smidge of hope, but then it disappeared from his face as he blinked and just stared at you, was that... suspicion?

"Guys." You said, voice normal now. They all flinch slightly at your volume but look at you nonetheless. "I know you went through a lot..." Hoodie narrows his eyes. "Though I don't know how much 'a lot' is... But-" You take a deep breath.

_If I'm going to help them, I need to do something that..._

_..._

_Welp, first time for everything!_

_Never said this before! HAHA-_

"I promise, that I won't hurt you."

They all look at you, wondering what you are going to say next. But they couldn't have predicted this: "I swear on my SOUL." They all gasp slightly, staring at you in disbelief.

_Sometimes what you read, can describe much more of what you mean than you think... Haha-_

Then all eyes are looking at your chest as a green glow emanated from it.

_Nothing surprises me anymore... But, I didn't expect ThIS oF All tHINGS._

"W-what??" You say suddenly as a small, hand sized heart drifts outward.

It was like looking at a weird sunset that... glows in the form of a heart... Huh.

"H-HUMAN!" Scarf says, startled. But as they all look at the, uh, SOUL... They slowly quieted.

Green and orange swirls surround a yellow centre glowing with a soft red light. Faint spider web cracks could be seen from where you're looking, outlined with a strong purple as they close onto the exterior of the glowing heart. Your SOUL glows in the dusty air, illuminating particles as they swish by, making them look like shining embers from a multicoloured fire. 

You all watch as your SOUL floats there, a slow thumping coming from it as if it was your heartbeat. Its mesmerising colours almost make you forget that you have three people in front of you.

Almost.

It was a minute until it finally started moving back to you, shyly going back into your chest.

_Well._

_That felt..._

_..._

_I don't know honestly._

"So you..." Carrot began saying, eye lights looking this way and that until finally settling on your face. "You were telling the truth...?" You look at him, and he is staring at you with wide eyes.

"Yes..." You reply as you look to the little scarf skeleton and see he's crying again, smiling with big bright stars in his eye sockets.

"HUMAN," He said, almost yelling. "YOU ARE THE KINDEST HUMAN WE'VE EVER MET!" You blink a few times before you blush, covering your face with your left hand.

"kindness, justice, courage, and..." Hoodie says as if talking to himself. He looks up and stares at you for a while. You look at him, eyes blinking as he gazed at you for what felt like forever.

Only a few seconds.

"you really did want to help us, didn't you?"

You nod. "I don't like seeing people bully monsters just because they're different than us." You furrow your brows at the thought of those guys... "And those men that did that to you," You looked over to the parking space that the truck had once been in, gaze turning icily cold. " _I will **Never**   forgive._" You stare at the space until a 'cough' brought you back to reality and you blinked a few times. "Oh, I'm sorry..." Your face reddens a bit. "I space out sometimes."

"THAT IS OKAY, HUMAN!" Scarf says as he looks at you with sparkling eyes.

Literally, his eyes were sparkling.

_I'm not even going to ask..._

"so... what're you planning on doin' now...?" Hoodie asks, almost reluctant to hear your answer.

You smile, looking at all of them.

"I-if..." Carrot and Hoodie man tense up. But little Scarf doesn't, he just beams at you. "If you wanted to... You could come with me to the Bitty Care Center, so we can see if any of you are sick or wounded." You see them relax. Only a small bit though. Until Scarf decided he wanted to laugh.

"MWEHEHE, HUMAN! WE DO NOT NEED TO GO TO A CARE CENTER! WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN HEALED!" He smiles at you again. Body partially illuminated by the sun that's beginning to set. _How can this much cute be contained in a little body... Like, this should be illegal._

_Wait, been healed?_

"What do you mean?" You ask curiously. He puts his index finger and thumb on his chin in a contemplating manner. He looks up at you slightly confused, then back to Carrot.

"did you not know you were a mage?" Carrot bluntly asks.

"WHAT?" You say a bit loudly and they flinch at your volume. You apologise multiple times before Scarf finally got you to stop, assuring you it was okay. Then you continued. "A-a mage?" You look at Carrot, Hoodie, then finally Scarf who unsurprisingly, was sitting on your knee.  _Come to think of it, they don't have any injuries from what I can see..._

Hoodie nods. "Since they were..." He pauses, eye sockets going dim. " 'tossing us around', we would've had more injuries than this." He looks at you, eye lights going back to their usual brightness. Well, what you assumed the 'usual brightness' was. "You healed us."

"W...What, how?" You couldn't help but ask. But you had to know.

Your parents weren't mages at all, and you didn't have any magic growing up...

So... How?

"we didn't sense that your SOUL had magic before you came in contact with the box, so it must've happened while you were..." Carrot's eyesockets go wide as if in a realisation of something. "What you said before the bullets hit you," Hoodie seems to be catching on, because he raises his eye... brow bone whatever it is, in recognition.

"She must've just tapped into her SOUL's main trait when she said that..."  He looks at you, curious. "Does  **'I'll protect you.'**  mean anything special to you?"

Your blood runs cold.

_That's... Familiar somehow..._

_**'I'll protect you...'** _

_..._

_Oh._

 

_"Hurry before you're too late!" She says, looking at you with eyes filled with fear for what's about to transpire._

_You don't know what yet..._

_"But Mothe-!" You skidded to a stop in front of the train doors that were about to close and whipped your body around to see the three men holding guns. "I-I can't leave you here!" You said. Heart pounding in your ears as you glanced between your mother and the armed guys._

_"It's okay Leala!" She assures you._ It's not okay.  _She looks back at you with a smile._ That's not a real smile Mom.  _She sees your expression and turns away. You heard her chuckle sadly. "I really can't tell a lie with you, can I?" With that, she sprints in front of you as you hear bullets fire._

_You barely heard what she said._

_**"I'll protect you, my little star."** _

_"MOM NO!"_

_A flash of green._

_._

_.._

_..._

_You held her in your arms, shaking as you waited for the police to arrive._

_The men had gone, they had done the job they needed to and just left._

_A boy and his father luckily found you, and called the police._

_The police arrived 30 minutes later._

_They almost arrived too late._

.

..

...(BACK TO PRESENT!)

You feel a sharp pain on your cheek as you regained awareness.

"...MAN!"

...

Oh.

You had passed out... Kind of?

Great.

Wait, who's voice is that?

"...HUMAN!"

What?

"HUMAN!" You snapped to attention from the yelling in your right ear.

Roll with it.

You had fallen over on your side, and a concerned Scarf was looking at you, glowing cyan tears were flowing down his chubby face.  _Heh... Chubby... How is a skeleton chubby...?_

In your daze, you forgot the fact that they could possibly have a panic attack if they were even touched by you. You slowly reach your hand over towards him and use your finger to wipe away the tears. He freezes but doesn't do anything, looking at you with a face you can't discern the expression of.

You hadn't realised you were crying until he walked closer to your face. " Hu-... Miss Leala," You were still in a daze so you didn't notice him calling you by your real name instead of 'human'. (FREAKING IMPORTANT NAME CHANGE, GOSH DANG IT.)

"is she okay, bro?" You hear Carrot say, but you can't discern where the voice is coming from. "she looked pretty... spooked." Scarf is currently wiping the tears away from your eyes as he responded.

"I HOPE SO." It was quiet for a moment before you heard Bob's voice, and all the bitties tensed up at the sudden eruption of sound.

"Leala?!" Bob yelled as you heard his footsteps gradually getting closer. You slowly got up, using your arms to steady yourself as you resumed sitting. Not ready to stand up yet. Bob was now in front of you, staring wide-eyed at your state of being.

Puffy eyes from crying.

You were lying on the floor.

A hole in your shirt where your shoulder would be.

Oh.

Oh, and blood.

That too.

Yeah.

There was a LOT of things going through his mind.

You can tell by the look on his face.

"What happened? Are you okay? Why are there bitties on the ground? Are they hurt? You've been crying, haven't you? Why are you bleeding?! Please for the love of GOD tell me what happened!" There are the questions.

"Bob." You say quietly, luckily he heard you and stopped talking. You pause for a moment to check on the little skeletons.

Surprisingly they just stood there.

Very still.

_That's not good..._

You silently sit there, giving looks to Bob if he was about to say something. The wind dies down a bit, now just a small breeze. Chancing it, you give another glance at the bitties on the ground.

Still standing, motionless. They were all fixated on Bob.

_Welp, change of plans._

"Bob..." Your eyes pleaded him to stay silent for a moment. "I'm okay, for some reason my wounds and theirs have been healed by some magic I didn't know that I possessed, but I am okay. Everything is okay. But you yelled and it scared them- they've been through a heck of a lot so... If you could go into the other room and I can talk with you later about this- I promise..." His mouth opened and closed, as if he was trying to say something but then decided against it. His eyes flicked down to the giant bloodstain on your shirt and back up at your face.

Many emotions were passing through his face before he finally settled on resignation. "Okay. But you owe me two tubs of icecream and a whole night of talking and korean dramas." He says as he gets up and quietly turns around, walking back towards the door.

You sigh in relief as you close your eyes for a moment.

"Miss Leala?" You turn and look at Scarf (I'm seriously thinking of naming him that now... OH WAIT-)

"Y-yes?" You stammer, looking at Scarf's big eyes.

"We have never met a human so nice to us, there must be something that you want..." His permanent smile faltering a bit.

OH.

MY.

GOSH.

NO.

"No." You say.

Immediately one of the others says something that proves your thoughts right.

"there must be something you want from us, humans aren't... that kind." Carrot says, pulling his orange hood up to cover his face. "what do you want...?" He doesn't sound like it, but you know he's hurting inside.

You can feel it.

But it seems that they have forgotten about seeing your SOUL.

_Man, that thought hurt more than I thought it would... haha._

They all looked so defeated. It's like they gave up on life and resigned.

"The only thing I want is..." You pause, letting them all look up at you dejectedly. You smile warmly. "... Is for you all to be happy."

They all blink.

"W-WHAT?" Scarf says surprised. Then slowly realises you're serious. "Really...?" He asks, quieter than what you heard before.

"Yes. I'm entirely serious." He looks at you like you're an angel. Then suddenly he jumps onto your chest and climbs to your shoulder, snuggling into your neck. You can hear him sniffling 'thank you's.

The others look totally shocked and wait as if you were going to throw him off your shoulder.

You try to smile, but what's going on in your head prevents you from doing so.

But, you manage a small smile, although it vanished just as quick as it came.

_What happened to them?_

"What happened...?" You manage to squeak out, your SOUL just breaking at the thought of them on the streets. Such sweet monsters... Suddenly taken and thrown around  _in a box_.

Carrot looks at you, his expression clearly shows that whatever happened was  _very_  unpleasant.

Hoodie stares at the concrete floor, eyes completely black.

Scarf just starts sobbing.

You can't take it anymore.

"Do you all... Have a home?"

They all look at you shocked, then suspicious, then confused and suspicious.

Scarf stops sobbing and is slowly calming down. He moves his head to look at your face, cyan tears still falling on your shoulder, but the downpour slowly decreasing as he looks at you.

Then Hoodie suddenly asks this.

"do you want to adopt us?"  _Adopt? Like as in a pet? ... DO THEY THINK OF THEMSELVES AS PETS..._

_..._

"Do you think of yourselves as pets?" You reply, voice tinged with sadness. They look at you, eyes devoid of emotion as they silently nodded their skulls.  _Yeah... Yeah, they do._

Scarf wasn't crying, or at least he wasn't sniffling anymore. You assumed he was still looking at you.

_Screw it._ _I can't do this._

"I will never think of you as  _pets_." You say, looking at them.

Hoodie opens his mouth to say something, but you continue before he has a chance to say anything.

"You are monsters, not as in the insult 'you are a monster' but as in the kind, sweet, and caring monsters." You start to shake a little, tears brimming your eyes, but you don't care. "All the monsters I have met, have treated me with such kindness, even though I'm a human." You sniffle and give up on trying to stop the tears from flowing.

"I want to treat you all the same as you treat me, I want everyone I meet to be happy when they leave the convenience store, instead of being bombarded with insults at every corner they turn. I want you all to be treated as equals instead of the way you're being treated now. You all have SOULS just like us, I just don't understand why some people have to be so horrible to you all..." You close your hands into fists.

You blink away some of the tears from your eyes and stare at the ground. "Humans treat monsters like filth, so I don't expect any kindness from the ones I do meet, but I get it anyways." You didn't notice that Scarf had climbed down and was on the floor with the others, and they were all staring at you. "And they greet me with a smile every time, even if other humans are looking at them with sneers as they ask how my day has been. I want to give monsters hope, I want to give everyone hope that one-day things will be peaceful. That one day everything will change, people will change. That one day they will see how kind and nice you monsters really are. And that they were been wrong about treating you the way that they did. Even if I can only do simple things like wishing them a good day, or telling them thank you... That could mean so much to them." You shake your head and look at them, not noticing the shocked expressions they wore and the tears in their eyes. Just trying to get your feeling across. 

 **"So if you think I will harm you, leave you alone in the streets, or think of you as pets, I Promise you with all of my self..."**  You put a hand on your heart roughly, feeling the wetness of your tears on your t-shirt as you stare at them, feeling every fabric of your being shiver as you let your emotions pile out into these last words.  **"I will Not. I'm never going to leave you alone to die. No one else will harm you while I'm still alive. I will protect you with everything I have."** You sniffle and give a determined look at the three. **"You're stuck with me now."**  You take a moment to realise what you just said,  _Oh..._

_Oh... Well then..._

_Uh..._

_Well, I said what I felt._ You stare at them for a full minute before blinking and rubbing your eyes with your hoodie sleeve. Looking back up at them you realise-

Right now you were looking at three crying skeletons.

But three  _smiling_ , and crying skeletons.

And these smiling and crying skeletons were looking at  _you_  with pure...

_Joy._


	4. Puns for Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scared and Cautious Bitties + Kind Human = TAKE THEM TO THE CARE CENTRE AND ADOPT THEM ALREADY GOSH DANG IT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Why'd the skeleton not go to prom?
> 
> Other People: Why?
> 
> Me: Cause he didn't have the guts ;)
> 
> Other People: oh haha! funny! XD
> 
> Me: Why'd the skeleton not go to prom?
> 
> Other People: Uh, you already-  
> Me: WHY'D THE FRICKIN SKELETON NOT GO TO THE PROM  
> Other People: ._.  
> Me: Answer the question.  
> Other People: W-why didn't he go to the pr-  
> Me: BECAUSE HE HAD NO BODY TO GO WITH! :D  
> Other People: ah hahaha
> 
> Yeah... I think I have problems. ._.  
> ONTO THE STORY! :D

These smiling and crying skeletons were looking at  _you_  with pure...

_Joy._

It wasn't long before Scarf tackled you, followed by two other crying skelles.

"Wha- oof!" They were actually strong for how small they were. You fell on your back and looked at them, surprised.

"MISS LEALA!" Scarf yelled at you with enthusiasm of a trumpeting elephant. "YOU... YOU!" He can't finish the sentence because he just starts crying on your shoulder, any words he might be saying are muffled as he snuggles into your neck.

Carrot and hoodie were on your chest, both looking at you with tears running down their skulls. But... They weren't sad.

No.

The opposite in fact.

They were smiling like they never had before.

You could just feel it.

They started to move closer to your face but stopped in their tracks when they looked above you, fear evident in their eyes.

You look up.

Oh.

_Oh no._

Apparently, the people who rode back in the truck decided to leave one of their partners in crime behind.

"WHaddaya doin' with our bittiesss?" He slurred his words, bleach blonde hair flopping in his face whilst he looks down at you.

He started reaching down.

You glance at Carrot, Hoodie and Scarf quickly before making a decision.

They were clinging to your hair for dear life.

You weren't going to let this happen to them again...

You quickly sit up, dodging the drunken man's hand as you stand. You were about the same height, he looked like he was about to vomit his entire bowels on you before his face changed into a sneer.

"You keeping them?" He said too calmly for his drunk state. "Those...  _Things_." He pointed at them lazily, and you could  _feel_  the magic crackling around you as you stared at him, making a great effort not to punch him in his ugly face.

You were getting very angry at this man.

"If they so wish, they can stay with me for as long as they want to." You say, slightly directing this to the small bitties on each of your shoulders. You feel the stares of their eyes but you continue. "And..." Taking a step forward, face practically glowing red with anger as you glared at him.  **"They are not _things_."**

He started laughing hysterically. "YOU THINK THEY AREN'T, HA!" He steps towards you with an uneven gait. "WELL," He stares at you with madness in his eyes, as he continues forward. "THEY'RE ARE. SO COME OUT OF YOUR FANTASY AND SEE THE REAL REASON WHY THEY SHOULD ALL JUST DIE." He blinks at you and turns around, wobbling on his unsteady feet.

_Ha._

_Ha._

_Freaking._

_Ha._

_Oh, he's gonna pay._

Before you know it everything around you goes black, and your SOUL is launched out of your chest towards that man.

You just wanted to slap him.

Oh wait.

Nope, your SOUL did it for you, never mind.

he went rocketing into the wall a couple of feet away from him.

You were suddenly greeted with an option to CHECK.

_Sure, why not._

Drunken Lunatic:

HP 7/20

DF 10

AT 30

Thinks monsters should die because his wife fell in love with one, and they eloped.

Huh.

Interesting.

He twitches, but other than that he doesn't move his face from the wall. He whimpers slightly and the blackness around you dissipates.

A small box appeared in front of you:

Congratulations! You earned nothing.

You ignore what it says and focus on the other thing at hand.

Your SOUL moves back into your chest and you sigh, feeling whole once again. You walk over to the trembling man, stopping in front of his shaking form.

"Hey." He flinches at the sound of your voice, so that means he knows you're there. "You know how you just got slammed into a wall?"  _Wow, way to be blunt._  You see him acknowledge you with a quick nod. "You also know that box you tossed around, right?" He slowly answers this time with a quiet 'yes...'. "It hurt to be slammed into a wall  _once_. Think about what it must be like to get slammed into a wall multiple times as you were thrown around by three grown men." He shivered.

"I can't imagine that." He said, starting to calm down. He looks at you, no, he looks at the bitties standing on your shoulders. "Because I'm not a monster." He spits venomously.

You feel a boiling rage wrap around your very being and a red glow emanates from your chest, the sound of your heart beating in your ears could probably be heard by the little ones you carried with you, but you pay it no mind. The anger towards this disgusting excuse for a human being almost takes over your mind, but a small voice in the back of your head reminds you that you have to stay calm. For the lil' guys who have already been traumatized as it is.

Time for that sick comeback you always dreamt of making yourself. "Good thing you aren't a monster then-" He stares at you before slapping his knee in mirth.

"I knew ya had it in ya! EVERYONE HATES MONSTERS EVEN IF THEY DON'T SAY SO AT FIRST!" He laughs loudly.

"-because if you were a monster, you'd be the first of whom to receive a punch in the face by me." He looks at you confused but then realises what was going to happen a bit too late. Your fist collides with his face, knocking him out immediately. The crimson hue fades from your chest and you huff, walking away.

Your car is parked just outside(PLOT CONVENIENCE THAT'S WHY) of the garage. You decide to go ahead and-

You feel the bitties on your shoulders shaking.

_Oh no... Are they okay??... Did I scare them...?_

Your steps grow quieter as you slow your pace and the rattling of small bones echoed throughout the car garage.

"Are you all okay?" You ask softly, voice laced with concern. "Did I..." You look down, hair falling over your face in shame as you said the next words. "Did I scare you?" You say finally.

"OH..." You hear Scarf say as if he was in a daze for a minute. "OH NO! YOU DIDN'T SCARE US MISS LEALA!" He quickly reassures and you look at him out of the corner of your eye. "WE JUST..."

He doesn't finish, but you hear Hoodie sigh next to your right ear.

"we've just never had someone get that mad _for_  us and not...  _at_  us." You feel Hoodie lean onto your neck, relaxing slightly.

"yeah..." Carrot says looking up at you. You smile sadly.

"I'm... I'm sorry." You immediately feel their eyes on you. "I'm so sorry you had to go through whatever you did..." You shake a little. "I'm sorry they threw you around in the box... If I had done my errands earlier, maybe I could've stopped them from doing that sooner and you wouldn't have had to go through all that. I'm sorry that I couldn't-" You get stopped by a small skeletal hand pressed against your lips. It was Scarf.

"LEALA." He stared at you a bit. "YOU..." His voice grew suddenly quiet as he paused for a long while. "Why are you so nice to us?" He asks.

"What?" You ask, blinking and trying to figure out if you had heard him correctly.

"why are you so nice to us?" His brother repeated. Something in his voice...

Your heart, or rather, I guess SOUL now, just wanted to come out and comfort them until they feel safe. A gentle smile made it's way onto your face as you take in the expressions on their faces. They have been through a lot, it makes sense that they would still be suspicious of your motives.

"Because..." You try to picture yourself looking at all of them to help you focus on speaking to everyone. "I want to be." You look up and breathe in the fresh-ish air.

Then you remember something.

"Oh, by the way," You say while looking ahead. "Where's the locket? I didn't see you holding it when the guy came." Hoodie looks up at you and grins.

"it's in my inven-Tori." You want to look at him, but if you did that then you would completely push him off of your shoulder with your chin. So you don't, Instead, you make a confused sound as you hear quiet snickering and a groan from your right.

Hoodie sighs, realising you won't get it. (Raise your hand if YOU got it hehehe) "i shrunk it with magic. i'm wearin' it now." Hoodie says.  _Well, that's a first..._

_As long as it's safe._

"Tibia honest, I'm kind of confused. But I think if I knew what inven-Tori meant, that pun would be a real rib tickler." You say while looking ahead with an expression of amusement while you continue walking.

You hear a groan of frustration in your left ear. "NO! NOT LEALA TOO!" Scarf says, putting a hand on his forehead as he looks down.

And then you hear laughing from both of the others. "hey, those were pretty Gouda." Carrot chuckles.

"Really?" You ask, a smug grin on your face. "I thought they were a bit cheesy." You finish, just as an 'MWWWEEEEHH!' comes from your left shoulder and you feel a sharp 'TAP' on your neck. But you didn't flinch, you have quite the pain tolerance.

You hear a gasp come from Scarf. "OH MY GOODNESS LEALA ARE YOU OKAY? I'MSORRYIHITYOUAREYOUHURT!?" The next bit he says is so fast, it's unintelligible.

"Woah Woah, calm down, it's okay!" You say hurriedly as he was frantically trying to apologise and check to see if you were okay at the same time. He seems to calm down after you assure him that you were alright. "I'm fine." You smile kindly at the small skeleton, silently appreciating his concern and care for your well being.

You turn your gaze back upwards and saw that you had reached your car before you had even realised it. You wait, trying to decide if you should take them with you.

"Do you want to come with me to the care centre?" They all fell silent, save for the slight breeze that ruffled your semi-long hair. Scarf spoke up after a minute of just standing in front of the vehicle.

"We Trust You, So It's Okay." He says.  _Quieter than normal again..._  He sits down on your shoulder and waits for you to open the car door.

You hesitate.

"Are you sure?" You wanted them to be comfortable, and if sitting down in your car would make them less so, you wouldn't do it. "We can walk there if you want?" Hoodie and Carrot look at each other and then back at you.

"would that be okay?" Carrot asks, hesitance clear in his voice.

"Of course!" You say with a cheerful grin, as if it's the most obvious thing ever.

They all stare at you for a long time before breaking out into silent crying.

"LEALA YOU... YOU REALLY ARE THE KINDEST HUMAN WE'VE EVER MET..." Scarf said, clutching a bit of your hair and hugging it. Your cheeks start to get warm as you decide to distract yourself from that fact by starting to walk to the Bitty care centre.  _Goodness me, these bitties..._

"if it wasn't for you, we would've..." Carrot looks up at you, eyes spilling over with orange tears. "We would have died." He says as if the realisation just hit him. "we would have died in that box if you hadn't come..." He clutches the top of your T-shirt sleeve, grabbing on like at any moment, time would reset itself, and they would be right back where they started. "t-thank you..."

"you really are a kind human." Hoodie says. "but you know how it is for us to trust people." He looks at you and pauses before smiling. "i think you're the first human that we know will stay true to their word. 'cause we all felt it." He closes his eye sockets as you feel the others on your right shoulder nod. "You have a centre of justice paired with kindness, courage, and determination." He opens his eye sockets to reveal his eye lights a bit brighter. "you definitely have a unique SOUL."

"Hm..." You nod, looking straight ahead again. "Well, everyone has a unique SOUL." You say with a smile. Then you remember there is a giant blotch of blood on your shoulder. "O-oh geez... Beter cover that up." You chuckle nervously, quickly fiddling with your keys as you press a button and the window rolsl down so you can grab your jacket from inside. you press the button again and start to walk away from the vehicle.

You kneel on the ground and bring your hands up to cup the small monsters on your shoulders, they made no fuss and you gently set them on the ground before you took your jacket and slipped it on. It was leather so the blood shouldn't be able to be seen even if it seeped through slightly. You offered your hands to the smol skellies again and they hopped onto your palms, Scarf smiling wide, Hoodie and Carrot just standing while you elevate them to your shoulders. They all got back to their previous positions and you started to walk to the place of interest.

 

You stop in front of the care centre.  _Man, that was quicker than I thought it would be..._

"Now are you sure that you want to go in?" You ask as you stay in place, the wind from the south sending a warm trickle of air through the gaps in your hair.

"well, we came all this way." Carrot says, sitting up and then settling to lean on your neck "why  waste time going back?"

You nod, agreeing.  _He has a point._

"AND IT WILL BE OKAY BECAUSE WE HAVE MISS LEALA WITH US!" You feel him hugging your shoulder and nuzzling against you. You hear slight movement as the others nod in agreement, relaxing against your neck.

You feel your SOUL swell with... Love.

It's been a while since you've been this happy.

"Well then, better late than never!" You say with a grin, you hear a faint chuckle come from Hoodie.

You push open the doors and walk inside.


	5. It's Nothing...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go the The Care Centre! WOOOO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a schedule for this yet so updates will be completely at random. I'm sorry I don't have many more chapters I could publish regularly...  
> I love you guys ;-;

You pushed the doors open and entered.

Immediately you felt warm air gently cascade your face as you take in the environment.

In the centre of the facility were two long shelves stocked with different types of clothing and necessities. Little pens on either side of the store held bitties for adoption, some of the little ones in the front pen waved at you and smiled. You awkwardly wave back and started for the desk in the back. You didn't notice the three skeletons grab onto you tighter.

"Hello dear, what can I help you with?" A rabbit monster asks you, then she notices your little friends. "Ah, did you want to adopt them?"

You cringe at the word 'adopt'.

She notices your expression and stares at you, confused.

"Um, actually..." You start.  _Here we go! No turning back now! HAHA- This is so nerve-wracking..._ "I found these guys in a box... Outside." You didn't want to mention what they  _went through_  in that box when there were people around. Really, you didn't want to tell anyone... But if it comes to it that what happened might've affected their health-

"Oh, they were strays?" She asks innocently.  _Strays..._

"They..." You pause, looking at her. You were going to stand up for these little ones even if it meant that you might be ridiculed or harrassed. They need someone to depend on through all this, especially since they've been through so much- they didn't need to go through any more pain. You didn't want them to. "They aren't pets."

The rabbit monster stares at you while blinking a moment, before chuckling and looking down.

"Oh... Hehe." She looks back up, a genuine smile on her face. "Nobody really says that anymore... Thank you." She puts a hand... Uh, Hand-paw on the back of her neck, rubbing it shyly. "It's nice to see people who treat them like people, most humans whom I've come across, will adopt a bitty. But then come back and drop it off, saying it misbehaved too much." She looks at you sadly. "But really, they didn't treat them as actual beings. They treated them like they would a dog." She grimaces, looking down again as she brings a hand-paw to her face.

 **"I would never do that."** Your voice seems to echo in your mind, but it's the tone of it that causes her to look up quickly.

"..." She hesitates for a moment but continues, looking at you with a kind smile. "You know, you have a very expressive SOUL."

You blink.

_What?_

_What is it with monsters and SOULs?_

_Four monsters have told me that now, it's gettin' kinda weird..._

She notices you looking at her strangely and puts up her hands, waving them. "I-I mean that when you spoke, your SOUL did too!" She says quickly.

"How did you hear it?" You ask curiously, taking in the smile that appears on her face soon after you say that.

"Well, it's because monsters are made of magic! They can sense other magic, too. And if a feeling of another person is strong enough, a monster can feel the emotions of that person. If the person does not have a barrier of course." She continues. You hear footsteps stop behind you and turn- Oh, we have gathered the attention of a few people.  _They probably don't like crowds... I hope the little ones can hold on for a bit._ You remain calm, hoping it would calm them down as well. "And if they are bad emotions, it could lower a monster's HP, depending on how much the person feels." She smiles. "But, with good feelings, a person could protect and probably heal the injuries of the people that their emotions are directed at. But that's just a theory..." She trails off as she notices the several people who had come to listen. "Oh! Oh, I was rambling, I'm sorry! Here come with me." She gestures for you to follow her, an apologetic look on her face as she leads you behind the front counter. She opens a door with a sign that says 'Counseling Room' hanging on a little tack.

You follow her through the door and look to see a table and two chairs against a cream coloured wall to your far left. A giant grey fluffy rug lay on a dark wooden floor panelling below you, and pictures of happy monsters and humans holding their own designated companions in their arms were hung on the walls.

"So, you said you found them in a box outside, correct?" The bunny monster says while sitting down and gesturing to a chair in front of her.

"Uh... Yes." You say sitting down. You fidget with your hands, not knowing what to do with them.

She pauses to study your face before frowning sadly. "They were in the box because they were left behind, or were they in the box because of abusive humans?" You look up from your hands, a slightly surprised expression on your face. Maybe she has dealt with this kind of thing before?

You look to the bitties on your shoulders before continuing.

"Y-yes..." You say hesitantly. The guilt is holding your SOUL with an iron grip. "I didn't want to say it in front of all those people... I felt like they would judge them and... I didn't want them to go through that. I know how it feels to be judged harshly because of how you lived, it's not pleasant..." You look at her as a dismal chuckle escaped your lips. You think back on all the horrible things that your race did to the monsters. "Humans suck, huh?" She looks at you and just gives a sad smile.

"Well, I won't disagree, but..." She grins a bit happier this time. "There are humans who come here, that give me hope that everything will be better. Humans like you." She puts a Hand-paw on yours that you didn't know was on the table. "Even though I don't see them often, I still see them." A warm expression crosses her face as she glances at the little ones huddling behind your long hair. Her eyes turn back to and an emotion you can't discern flashes across her features. She shakes her head, getting back to the point and removing her hand from yours.

"Where did you find them, and what happened?" She began questioning you. Which would have been completely normal, considering it's her job to find out the information regarding these bitties, but that didn't make your heart stop pounding in nervousness.

"I found them at my workplace." You begin, slowly forgetting the slight panic from a few seconds ago. "They were in a box, being tossed around. The box was flimsy. Well, it looked to be flimsy from where I was standing." You glance over to the small skeletons on your shoulders, it seemed they were all right... You kept going. "I wanted to help them... So I did." You don't want to go into the fact that you apparently have magic but if it helps explain how you got them out of that situation, then you would. Can't have her start being suspicious of you now, can you?

"I ran at them saying no, but they had thrown the box a few feet away from the truck they had... So I was able to reach it." You look down, hands fidgeting again. "I ran and picked it up, but then I realized that doing a slide on your knees on the concrete wasn't a good idea. I injured my knees." You made a face, and the bunny stifles a soft chuckle. "There was a guy with a gun-" You hear the bunny woman choke, stopping the quiet laughter from before completely. You kinda feel bad that you changed the topic from amusing to serious in one go, but that's actually what happened and it wasn't like you were gonna lie to this poor woman. You continue, grimacing at the thought of those men still out in the world. "I got shot but after that, they left. I'm positive that he shot me but... I'm not harmed. And I also apparently healed the bitties that were in the box." You gesture to the forms covered in your hair. "I just wanted them to be okay, I didn't want them to be hurt so..." You trail off as you see her expression.

"You're a mage?" She asks incredulously. You nod, but you still don't accept that fact yet. If it is even a fact. "Oh wow!" She sits up suddenly and you feel the bitties jump. You put a hand up to them, telling them that it's okay and everything is alright. They suddenly seem to relax on your shoulders, you smile happily.  _Thank goodness._

She seems to notice the little bitties and apologises profusely to them. It took Scarf to speak up, his voice was shaky and quieter than when he spoke with you, but he got his point across that it was okay. The bunny monster looks down in shame and sits back on the chair again. She coughed and looked at you. "So they are not from a care centre or do they have an owner-" You both cringe at the word 'owner'. "-as far as you know?"

You shake your head.

 _If those people were their previous..._ You can't even think of the word.

_... I hope they weren't._

_Haha... If they were..._

_H a ._

_h a ._

She seems happy with your response because she lets out a relieved sigh.

"I'm so glad, Oh my dear goodness..." She looks at you, before looking at the partially uncovered forms underneath your hair.

She pauses and thinks for a bit before slapping her palm with her fist as if an idea came into her head. "Would you like to stay with her?"

"Yes." "yes." " _yes_."

_Wait what._

"Then that is settled!... If you want them to stay with you that is?" You take a moment to respond, a stunned expression on your face.

_What._

Maybe you're waiting too-

"OF COURSE!" You say quickly. Your stunned expression turning into a smile.

You hear Scarf gasp, and the others chuckle lightly.

"Well then, you need some supplies before you go back home of course." The bunny has a smile on her face as she chuckles. She gets up and you follow her out of the small room, back to the front of the store.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIIIIIMMMMEEEE SKIIIIPPPPPP YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had gotten everything.

And everything consisted of clothing for the little guys and some other stuff. You had let them pick out the clothing of course. They were a bit hesitant at first, but they eventually told you which ones to get.

You had to sign a few papers, but since you found them outside of a care centre, you didn't have to fill out adoption forms. And she had told you before everything was finished "They're pretty comfortable with you already, I wouldn't want to take them away from you now that they have gotten adjusted."

 

So now you were on your way home.

With three bitties on your shoulders, and your arms filled with bags of supplies.

what could go wrong?


	6. Murphy's Law

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murphy's Law  
> A rule that states, “If something can go wrong, it will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIZNUTS DUDE LOOK AT ALL OF THESE KUDOS HOLY CRAP  
> Thank you so much guys, this means so much to me that you actually like this...  
> You all are so awesome, I'm so touched ;w;

With three bitties on your shoulders, and your arms full of bags with supplies,  

What could go wrong? 

(I agree, Lea... What _could_  go wrong?)

 

~Le Fast Forward Fifteen Minutes~

 

You reach your apartment at about 6 PM without much trouble.

Getting in the apartment isn't that hard either, even while carrying the multiple bags with your arms. The stuff inside of the bags isn't that heavy either, so that's a plus.

You unload the bags off of your arms gently and decide to show the mini skeletons around the apartment. They cling to your hair like it's the very thing holding them on this planet. After you walk around a couple times and the bitties ask some questions about, well everything, they seem to calm down a bit and slacken their death grip on your hair strands.

Well at least one of them.

You hear frustrated grunting from your left shoulder and glance your eyes in that direction. It seems that carrot had gotten threads of your hair in between his little hands. You chuckle to yourself at the cuteness of it, not noticing the embarrassed orange flush that graced his face soon after. "Do you need some help?" You offer, smiling at them while you knelt in front of your counter so they could get off. Hoodie saunters off, looking around with his white eyelights and surveying everything. Scarf hops onto the marble surface and runs around in circles a few times. Carrot just steps onto it like it was the same surface, successfully getting his hand out of the prison of your hair. He 'Nyeh's to himself and walks over to a nearby napkin holder and leans against it, then slowly sliding down and sitting.

You smile and walk over to your blue couch, sitting down on the plush leather. The quietness that permeated the air as you all did your own thing was uhm... Was great.

...

You twiddle your thumbs.

...

Nope it's extremely awkward.

The silence was broken by Scarf as he slid down the back of the couch and plopped next to you, they had gotten off of the counter it seemed- Well, aside from Carrot who was still lounging against the napkin holder. Hoodie climbed up your arm and found his usual spot next to your neck and nestled himself there while Scarf jumped on the fluffy couch.

 "Oh! This is a very comfortable sofa." He exclaimed happily. "Brother you have to come here, it is very soft." You hear a 'pop' sound and then a quick inhale as Carrot appeared next to Scarf.  _His brother apparently._

He flinches and slowly turns around, you feel Hoodie tense against your neck, but you couldn't pinpoint the reason why. "I didn't know you two were brothers. Well, I guess you learn a new thing every day." You say happily, but softly as well. You didn't want to scare them all over again.

You finally look down to see him staring at you weirdly, you tilt your head in confusion. "you're... you're not mad?" Carrot asks warily.

You blink a couple of times, trying to see if you heard him right. "Mad?" He nods slowly. "Why would I be mad?"

The confusion on your face is easily noticed by the little skeletons. But they were... Hesitant?

_Mad?_ _Why does he think I'm mad?_

_..._

_Wait._

_Wait a minute-_

Your eyes widen and your confused look drops entirely as the gears in your mind begin to turn.

_Those men must've done so much to them that they wouldn't even allow them to use their magic? To the point of flinching when seen using it... **But magic is a part of a monsters being!**_ _**That's like telling humans not to walk, it doesn't make sense...!** _

You feel a tear fall from your eye as you stare at him, shock and concern plastered all over your face.

Scarf keeps his gaze on you, an obscure emotion on his skull. There is a sudden change in the room's atmosphere, but you don't notice it.

_What did they do to these skeletons...?_

You remember he asked you a question. Questions have to be answered oh my goodness-

"I'm not mad." You say simply, bringing your hand up to rub your nose. It had gotten a bit runny while you were in your thoughts. You sniffled slightly. "I won't be mad if you use magic, at least that's what I assume it was." A sad frown made its way onto your face as you continued. "I'm not like those other 'people'..." You look over to your window on the other side of the room, grey light shown through the half-open blinds, bathing the coffee table and sofa in a dusty light.

"O-Oh! No, we know that Miss Leala! It's just-" Scarf trails off, his perpetual smile faltering. Your face turns back from the window to the two in front of you, and you see Scarf's expression shift into one of suppressed fear. "It's just that we..." The smile leaves his face and his eyelights fade to white pinpricks.

"we weren't allowed to use magic with  _them_." You hear Hoodie say the word 'them' like it's poisonous. "every time we did, we'd be...  **p u n i s h e d**." You feel the air next to your neck become cold. Carrot's face turns downward and he pulls his hood over his skull.

_**p-punished...?** _

The tense air around you just seemed to get thicker, like you were underwater but you could still breathe. The look in their eyesockets...

_Nope._

_**Nope.** _

_I' **m n** o **t d** oi **ng** th **is**.  **I**  c **an** 't-_

_**NO.** _

"I'm not going to ask what happened. Because I can clearly tell that it hurts you when you even think about it." You look at them, trying to be brave for their sake. _I have to stay strong..._ "But... That doesn't mean it won't affect me as well when I see you guys like this." Your gaze silently turns downward as your hands lie motionless in your lap.

You don't notice the pitter-patter of raindrops on the windowsill as your eyes continue to have a stare-down with your fingers. "It hurts... Seeing you with those looks in your eyes." You eventually do notice, however, that the wind is now blowing quite fiercely outside.

"Even though I met you only just today, I feel like I need to stay with you guys."  You chuckle a bit. "I know, that sounds weird doesn't it?" Your mind wanders back to those abhorrent people that were back in the parking garage. "And if those people from before come back again..." A flash of memory goes through your mind for a brief moment. "They'll regret it..." You clench your fists. "Because they'll have to go through me to get to you."

After a second you blink and get a hold of yourself, before you could apologise, you notice that their eyes are wide, looking at your chest where your SOUL would be. 

You hear rain pattering on the window, harder than before. It interrupted your train of thought and caused you to look toward your window. You hear a big  _clapBOOM!_ from outside your apartment building, followed by an even stronger downpour of rain. Your eyes widen and you try to calm your racing heart.  _Oh geez that was a scare..._

Hoodie grabs your neck tightly, his claws sink into your skin as if he could fall away any moment. Scarf scrambled towards you, going underneath your jacket and motioning Carrot to come over as well. Carrot teleported next to him immediately. They must've never dealt with a thunderstorm before. Not that you have too many experiences either, especially with one of this scale...

You pick up the TV remote that was lying on the left side of the couch and click the power button, turning the Television on. You leave one hand available in case the others needed something to ground themselves. Which Scarf and Carrot both did. They held onto your hand with pure terror. Another thunderclap rings out and shakes the house. You try and stay calm, putting down the remote and listening to the weather report.

"It's falling down pretty hard. High winds and hail are descending onto the southwest region near Ebbot. It'll hit the Glades a bit lighter than last year, but I pray for the people who live closer to the mountain."

_It'll be okay... It'll be okay... Just because my apartment complex is right next to the forest connected to the mountain doesn't mean that it'll be worse than last-_

_CLAP-_ _**BOOM!!!** _

You flinch, jolting Hoodie somewhat out of his position. You hear a terrified scream come from where he was positioned and felt guilt weigh your heart down into your stomach. "S-Sorry... I'm sorry..." You try and calm yourself down. It wouldn't help if you yourself were panicking because it would do nothing but make them panic as well.

You take in a deep breath, exhaling through your mouth and doing the same thing three times. Breathe in... Breathe out...

You try and tell them what was happening. "It'll be over soon, this happens sometimes, but it isn't forever. I promise." Your voice is only just above the sound of the heavy rain falling against the outer walls of your apartment. "It's called a thunderstorm. But the weathercaster said that it had hail this time." You hope explaining what it was could help them calm down a bit, so you tried to do it as best you could. "Hail is small balls of frozen rain. And usually it doesn't get larger than a golf ball, but in very rare cases it can. That's in rare cases, and I'm positive that they aren't that big right now. That's why it's called 'rare'."

You keep your tone of voice calm, picking up Carrot and Scarf and holding them to your chest. Their bodies scrambled closer to you, tensely coming to a stop above your sternum. Scarf laid his head down above your breastbone and closed his eyes. Carrot soon followed suit and did the same. Their scared faces shifted slowly into a more calm expression, listening to the sound of your heartbeat and breathing.

Or maybe it was your Soul they were listening to?

It would make sense... Since it's magic. Yeah it was probably your soul that they were listening to.

Hoodie was slowly letting go, emphasis on slowly. It was like he was barely moving, but the relief of that stinging in your neck kinda told you he was at least slightly calming down... Hopefully. You continued. "The loud booms you hear is called Thunder. It's normal to be loud, but sometimes when it's right above you, it can sound like it's everywhere. But a storm never stays in one place forever." The rain reached an even pace, and the hail was no longer tapping loudly on the window. You were used to giant spurts of rain, that's just how it's like there. Thunderstorms were somewhat less normal since they only came either in between winter and spring or in between fall and summer, where cold meets warm. You continue where you left off, noticing that the rain was slightly letting up. "Where would all that water come from if that happened? The water in clouds isn't infinite, they're just releasing the heavy droplets of water that they carry for a set amount of time." You look up at the window, smiling slightly. "It'll be alright, we just need to wait it out a bit." You chuckle. "Interesting housewarming party, huh?" An apologetic expression claimed your face and you sigh. "I'm sorry, I should have checked the weather forecast beforehand..."

It was a long while until anyone spoke up.

That is, until Carrot did.

" _it's alright, human- er... leala._ " His small skeletal hand pats your chest and  you look down, watching his face for any kind of fear. Luckily there was none and you relax slightly, glad that they weren't scared of the rain anymore. " _you wouldn't have been able to prevent this from happening, anyway. it's not like you can control the weather._ " He suddenly puts a hand to his chin and gives a contemplative expression. " _or is that one of your abilities?_ " He says with a sarcastic grin. You let out a lighthearted laugh.

"No, I'm pretty sure I can't control the  _weather_  of all things! Heheh!" Your eyes scrunch up in your mirth. "Speaking of, I think the rain is letting up a bit. Maybe it'll stop soon?" You look at the window again and see that it's just a light shower pittering against the windowsill. A movement on your shoulder close to your neck made you slightly turn your head.

"d...don't move...please." You heard Hoodie say, so you didn't move, like he asked. "i-i hurt y-you..." He started to sniffle. You wanted to reassure him that you were perfectly fine, but before you could, Scarf clambered up to where Hoodie was.

"Oh mY STARS-! Let Me Help You Heal That, Goodness Me!" A warm buzzing vibrated against your skin. It was pleasant, like the pop rocks candy you put in your mouth except it was on your neck, and it wasn't candy. Were they using magic? 

"That..." You close your eyes, smiling a bit at the feeling coming from the magic. Just the idea that they would do this for you... How sweet. "That's really kind of you both... Thank you." You feel your cheeks heat up slightly as you look upward. The crackly feeling stopped and Scarf and Hoodie remained on your shoulder for a bit, you could feel like they were moving, but other than that nothing was said. Eventually, Scarf slid down your shoulder, Hoodie following closely after. They land next to Carrot who had fallen asleep while listening to your breathing. A contented expression lay on his features as he slept, soft snores of 'nyeh' flowing out of his mouth every now and then.  _Aww... Cute._

"I'M SORRY MISS LEALA! MY HOODED FRIEND ACCIDENTALLY HURT YOU WHILE HE WAS PANICKING, PLEASE FORGIVE HIM! HE MEANT NO HARM!" Scarf says in his usual loud voice, bowing down in apology. It seemed he didn't think to be a little quieter while his brother was sleeping. Maybe Carrot can sleep through anything?

You smile. "I wouldn't hold anything against him. People can do many things while their scared, it's natural dear, don't worry." A gentle smile carries its way onto your features and you look back at your window, being silent for a bit until a question suddenly popped into your mind.

"Hey, are you guys hungry?"


	7. Food and Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You eat some tacos and sleep

"Hey, are you guys hungry?"

The question slipped out before you could even think about it. Though you did promise Bob you would tell him everything later... But now wouldn't be a good time. Considering the circumstances. 

1\. It rained a hell of a lot.

2\. The bitties were terrified.

3\. They're recovering from a lot.

4\. Just FREAKIN'- A LOT HAPPENED AND NOW'S NOT THE TIME.

_I can at least message him and tell him I'm okay though, that's the least I could do._

But after, what, dinner? What time is it?

You reach into your pocket and pull out your phone, pressing the power button and turning it on. "Holy crap it's 9:00... I didn't even realise." You pocketed your phone in your leather jacket. "Time passes quickly, huh?" You smile enthusiastically. "Let's get some foodage shall we? What would you guys like?" You direct your attention to them and see Scarf holding his gloved hands above his T-shirt where his stomach would be.

"We... We Haven't Eaten In A While..." He looks up at you, eyelights sparkling with stars. "Thank You, Miss Leala..." Your heart sinks and melts at the same time. You don't know what to do with all of the emotions these little guys are giving you. And it's only been a day- Dear LoRD.

"do you have ketchup?" Hoodie suddenly says, removing the hood he had over his face.

"Ketchup? Well, yeah, I think. Just ketchup?" You ask, looking at him a little bit confused.

"yep." He says simply.

"Well, um... I have it in the fridge, if you want to come with me to get it? Or did you want to stay on the couch-"

"WE'LL GO WITH YOU MISS LEALA!" Scarf suddenly shouts with great enthusiasm. You blink and chuckle a small bit at Hoodie's reaction.

"Well okay then, let'sa goooo!" You do a small fist bump in the air and offer your hand to carry both of the little guys, taking Carrot in your other hand and setting him in your jacket's breast pocket. It was pretty spacious and accommodated the slightly larger bitty pretty well. You stand up, feeling the strain in your legs from sitting for so long. You stretch a bit, popping your knee joints and ankles before walking over to the kitchen.

You open the fridge and grab a bottle of ketchup from the right-hand side of the door. You set it on the counter and pause, looking into the fridge once more and seeing the leftover tacos you had from the local Mexican Restaurant. "How do you feel about tacos?" You ask before being hugged tightly in the face. Interesting place to hug out of all places he could hug.

"I LOVE TACOS!!!" Scarf yelled onto your face, nuzzling it with his little cheeks. Oh _My Frickin- he's so cute I can't-_  
Scarf hops back onto your hand and sits down happily, wiggling his feet in time to a song he started humming.

"Okay then, we'll have tacos! And ketchup." You look to Carrot who still lay in your pocket. "Do you know if your brother will wake up any time soon? Or do you know what his favourite food is?"

"Oh, He Likes Almost Anything!" Scarf chimes, looking up at you with his big blue eyelights. You smile warmly and look to Hoodie.

"Are you sure you won't want anything else other than ketchup? I can always give you a serving of tacos, too." You see Hoodie shake his head.

"nah, i'll be okay. thanks though." He grins slightly and climbs up your arm and back onto your shoulder, leaning against your neck again.  _He must like that spot a lot._

You pick up the tacos and set them in the microwave after putting them on a plate. You set it for a couple minutes, just to get it evenly heated, then you grab everything else, AKA just ketchup, and head back to the couch. You set the ketchup on the coffee table and soon after, Hoodie teleported onto the coffee table next to the bottle.

It was twice his size... Uh...

"Hold on, I'll get you a um..." 

_Did I remember to get silverware- OH HECK YEAH I DID! YES!! PAST ME GOOD JOB!_

"Oh! I got you some dining stuff, I'll use that! Huehue!" You smile as you walk back over to the microwave, pressing the button to open the door and grabbing the tacos out of it. You shut the waver boi and put the tacos on the counter. You speedwalk back over to the couch to grab a couple plates from the sacks and bring them over to the taco plate. You open one of the counter drawers and take a knife out of it, taking the taco and splitting it into sizeable amounts for their small mouths. After getting everything plated and stuff, you head back over to the couch, setting everything on the coffee table and letting Scarf down to eat. "Itadakimasu!" You say jokingly, slapping your hands together and closing your eyes. You start to eat before you see them try and say the word too. "O-Oh guys I was uhm- I was being silly- you don't actually have to do that every time you eat." You chuckle a bit and Hoodie smiles slightly. Scarf huffs, but soon joins in grinning.

"OKAY MISS LEALA!" He takes a large bite of his portion of taco. "OH MY STARS! DID YOU MAKE THIS?!" He asks with an amazed expression on his face.

"Nope. I got it from a restaurant. There's a pretty good place down the street, has bombin' burritos too." You pat your belly and wink at him. "In both taste and after effects. Haha!" You take another bite of your taco. They always had the best food there, that's probably why it's your favourite place.

"Mweheheh!" Scarf laughs with a wide smile. You notice that his hands are getting kind of messy, maybe you should get him a paper towel or something?

You sit up and head toward the counter, grabbing a few napkins and walking back to the couch. You relax back down onto the sofa, now seeing that Carrot had woken up and was now staring at Scarf's taco. He handed a piece to Carrot, but the orange hoodied skeleton didn't want any.

Your gaze shifts over to Hoodie and you see that he's grinning contentedly as he drinks his cups of ketchup.  _Haha! He must really like ketchup huh?_

You think you remember someone saying that monsters couldn't digest human food as easily, but you could get that later on when you weren't so tired.

Speaking of tired, you should get their beds ready- wait did you buy those-

You check the bags that were next to the sofa and rummaged through the multiple different nick nacks and outfits.

You didn't.

Freakin' heck...

"Oh gosh darn it I didn't get beds for you guys..." Your head slumps down and a guilty look takes over your features. You look up to them, the small skeletons already finished with their food. "I'm sorry..."

Scarf perks up and crawls into your lap. "IT IS QUITE ALRIGHT MISS LEALA! WE CAN SLEEP WITH YOU!" He says happily, smiling that adorable smile of his.

"yea, it's no problem..." Hoodie says, fiddling with the drawstrings of his new blue parka. His skull nestles into the furry layering of the jacket, his grin becoming a lazy smirk. Carrot nods as well, staying silent, but his gaze continues to be in your direction.

"O-okay, if you guys are sure..." You still weren't all too keen at letting them sleep with you if they didn't want to. I mean, the other two seemed fine with it, but the tall one seemed reluctant. "H-hey," You turn your eyes toward Carrot. "Did you want to sleep somewhere else? I noticed you weren't that... Enthusiastic about uhm... Sharing sleeping arrangments." You fiddle with your hands as Carrot stays silent still.

" _it's alright... leala._ " Carrot's quiet voice eventually trails out. His slightly orange eyelights followed your own orbs of colour as if trying to see something that maybe you couldn't.

 _Hmmm..._  "Okay... Just making sure." Your eyes fall to the coffee table and then move to your bedroom door. A flash of Bob, concerned and wanting ice cream pops into your head for a moment and you slap your forehead. "Oh geez, I forgot to contact Bob and tell him I'm okay..." Your hand slides down your face and you look back at the bitties. "Alright, I'm gonna hit up Bob real quick and tell him I'm still alive and okay and stuff, then I think I'm gonna go ahead and get changed for bed. You guys wanna come with, or did you want to stay out here a bit longer?" Your blink at them before a yawn escapes your throat. "Oh goodness pardon me." You say sleepily.

"OH, YOU CAN GO AHEAD, WE'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU! AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT US GETTING LOST, I MEMORIZED THE LAYOUT OF YOUR ABODE!" Scarf says proudly. Your mouth slowly curls into a soft smile.

"How observant... Okidoki then." Scarf jumps off of your lap and back onto the coffee table and you sit up, stretching your back and popping a few joints in the process. You let out a heavy sigh and treck over to your bedroom door, opening it and then popping inside. You didn't close the door, just in case they wanted to come in.

The only real thing that you needed to change out of was your bloodied T-shirt. "Agh, man that's gonna take weeks to get the freakin' stain out..." You take off your leather jacket and set it on your desk chair before quickly tidying up your bedsheets. You walk over to your mirror and take off your shirt. A scar, among many of the others on your body, lay on your shoulder where the bullet made contact. "Well... I guess I can say I got another battle wound. Bob'll definitely want to check up on me if he sees this." You chuckle and walk over to your closet. There weren't many shirts to wear for PJ's, but you chose one of your more loose ones that went past your knees. I mean, not that that would be considered a shirt of all things, maybe like a dress that's really short but meh.

It'd be good enough.

You slip off your jeans and sneakers, grabbing your phone out of your pocket before tossing your jeans in the hamper in the corner, you nail it. "Heck yeah!" You set your shoes inside your closet, positioning them symmetrically against the back of the wall of the small storage space. You take your undergarments off and quickly put some new ones on. You toss your old ones in the hamper as well, nailing them directly in the centre. "Second score for Frost!" You imitate quiet cheering with your hands a chuckle soon after. You put on your oversized T-shirt and plop onto your bed. Oh, wait you need to text Bob- "Gosh dangit." You sit up, lazily walking over to the floor next to your closet and picking up your phone. You had dropped it on the floor. Classy. You quickly unlock your device and send a quick text to the ol' Bobbo bro and toss your phone onto a pile of folded laundry on the floor. Your legs automatically walk over to your bed and you fall face first onto the plush bedsheets. You turn your head and make a small bed angel with your body. "Ahh~ This is truly the most comfortable piece furniture I have..." You hug the mattress you've had for, what, ten years?

If you were a cat, you would be purring. But you're not so you just make human noises.

You turn around and, after a long minute of struggle, you get the blankets over yourself. "Hah! I got you, blanket! I hath defeated thee!" You giggle sleepily and your eyes immediately close halfway as your mouth expands in a yawn. You faintly hear the sound of the door creaking open, and two sudden pops next to your head and chest. You open your eyes tiredly and look to see Scarf and Carrot on your chest and that meant that Hoodie was probably next to your head. "Heheh... Hellooo~..." Your voice slurs and your eyes were barely keeping themselves open.

"Hello Miss Leala." You hear Scarf's voice, except it's quieter than before. Aw... That's so sweet of him. "Thank you... For everything you did for us." You hear a sniffle and then a pat.

You smile, feeling tears well up in your eyes. "You're welcome dear." And with that, you couldn't stay awake any longer.

_*** You have fallen asleep.** _


	8. Point of View

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What Scarf saw when you came to save them from the evil humans.

A/N

Scarf does not know that he is called Scarf yet. (He's called scarf in Lea's mind but ya know :P )

ONTO THE STORY

WOO

 

 

 

 

-Scarf's POV-

 

He watched Miss Leala's face shift into a state of calm sleep and he smiled, grabbing the edge of the blanket and going under it. He laid down on top of her chest and curled into a ball. He thought back to the events that transpired today.

...Such a kind human could get hurt in this world.

_He wanted to make sure she never did._

He fell asleep to the thoughts of the past.

  
  
  
_-Scarf's POV-_

The first thing he remembered was a light coming from a crack in the dark sky.

_Oh wait, that wasn't the sky...?_

His brothers were next to him, shivering from the state they were in. All he could feel was cold and wetness surrounding him, a foul odour he could not discern invading his sense of smell. Small bony phalanges brushed up against his, and he grasped them carefully. Knowing that his brother's hand was not fully healed since the last attack by the humans...

He had believed in them. They'd said they would change their ways. He'd believed that they were telling the truth when they said they were bringing him and his brothers to a good place.

 

_**Never had he been so wrong to...** _

 

They tossed them around like they were playthings, shaking the box they resided in like it was one of those human instruments he saw on TV, they insulted the three of them like they couldn't understand... Like they couldn't  _feel_.

But they could.

They had thrown the box they trapped him and his brothers in into an awful smelling vehicle and driven them somewhere.

"You should have never come here you little pieces of s-" The angry human was interrupted by another human.

"Dude, I think someone is listening in..." A gravelly voice said.

"Hah, like they'll stop us anyway. Practically everyone hates monsters the same as us." The angry human said.  _He was right, wasn't he...?_  The thought made the scarfed bitty hurt inside.

He felt the box lurch before it stopped with a great thump onto a solid surface.

It was dark, so he couldn't see anything but the dim glow of his brother's SOULs. Footsteps travelled to the right and became quieter, he assumed that they were walking away, finally going to leave them be. He scuffled over to his orange hooded brother.  _He's still unconscious..._

He heard the engine of the vehicle start up as if they were going to leave.

**_Are they going to run over it?_ **

_What?_

_Who's voice was that?_

He looked around frantically trying to find out where the voice came from.

And then he froze, the words from the angry human piercing the silence.

 "This is what you get, you stupid monsters! Should never have come up here!" Said the angry human.

 "Have a nice time dying, you pathetic pieces of garbage!!!"  The gravelly voiced human said. He heard the rumbling of the vehicle get closer...

_No-!_

"OH  **HELL**  NAW!!" He flinched as he heard a booming voice echo through the surroundings of the box. He still couldn't see anything besides the crack of light, slowly he tried to adjust his eye sockets to the brightness, what felt like a long time and he finally adjusted his eyes. Great! And he saw... A metal-ish ceiling?

He heard heavy footfalls getting closer to where he and his brothers were. A glowing light of multiple colours getting bigger and the heavy footsteps were getting louder-

"Get OUT Of The Way!" The angry human said.

_To who-_

He whipped his head around when he heard a scraping noise, looking to see through the small opening in the top of the box. A shadow cursed under its breath and winced.

_Another human maybe...?_

He saw it pause and then felt the box move a bit too fast and he fell over, it didn't hurt though. But he was worried about his brothers... _They were the ones who protected him from-_

He was cut off as the box felt like it was floating, and then as quick as the feeling came, it left and he fell down again. A pained gasp came from outside and he was now curious/concerned as to who was holding them now, despite his own injuries, he wanted to make sure his brothers were safe. He could hear a faint breathing coming from outside, light beads of magical sweat gathered on his brow-bone as one of his brothers woke up.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?!"  He flinched as he heard the angry human yell. The voice reverberating against the cardboard box they were being carried in. He felt his blue brother panic at the loud interruption of slumber, so he went over to calm him down, even though he was nervous himself. With a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, he looked through the gap at the top of the box. He could hear footsteps slamming against the ground outside of the small enclosed space, getting closer by the second.

And then, an unknown voice spoke.

It was soft and brittle like they wanted to cry but couldn't... Or wouldn't?

"Uhm... I-I was j-just..." _Why do they sound scared...?_ His awake brother looked up, eye dimly lit up with soft blue flames as he heard the angrier human respond, much louder than the previous time.

"That's mine!  **GIVE IT BACK**!!!" He felt the box jerk quickly away from an invisible force that reached for it and he and his brothers went slamming into the farthest cardboard wall painfully.

Quickly he gathered his bearings and got up as soon as he could. But just as he was about to walk forward, something cracked underneath him. And it was all he could do not to scream in agony when he dropped to the ground, clutching the air around his leg before gently covering it with his hands. He tried to hold in his tears, but it was no good. The pain in his fibula was too much. He looked down, tears pouring out of his sockets as he opened his phalanges slowly only to see that marrow leaked through cracks in his bone. If he had a stomach, he would have regurgitated everything in it by now. A bright light drew his attention away from the cracked fibula and he looked up, he saw a multicoloured light in front of them, changing into a grey-blue colour with pink cracks shaking on the soft surface like rippling water.

"I'm sorry, I jerked it too hard..." He heard the unknown voice say as the colours switched from pinkish white to a dull blue and grey.  _Why are they apologising... Humans never apologise...?_

He flinched as the box shifted, making his leg tap against the cardboard and him whimper in pain.

He heard a grunt come from far away and his soul froze.  _OH NO, WHAT IF THEY HEARD-_

The light-shape glowed comfortingly as if trying to calm him down, shining a with a faint green. He then heard the angry human's uneven sounding footsteps walk away and then a scrape against a metal of some kind. The light in front of him shivered and the pink cracks he saw earlier rose above the face of the faded green.

The light shivered...

_Wait, IS THAT'S THE HUMAN'S SOUL-_

"You dirty monster lover." He heard the angry human say, a clicking sound coming from the same general direction.  _Wait, monster lover?_

Silence.

Too much silence-

"It's not fair..." He heard the unknown voice say in a whisper, a light thumping sound emanating from the now dimmed light shape. 

_What._

"It's not fair monsters are treated like this..."

_What...?_

He looked up at the shadowy figure through the opening above and saw a faintly visible face, the box started shivering and something sparkly near their eyes shined for a quick moment.

He heard faint snickering in the distance. "That's what they should be treated like, they're disgusting." He heard a spitting sound and then the angry human continued...  "That's why they're called 'monsters'."

...

A soft pat came from the crack as he looked on, and a warm liquid dropped itself on his face. He sputtered and wiped it off with his tattered scarf, but he tasted it before he could get all of it off his skull.

It tasted salty... Tears?

"It's not right... They shouldn't treat you all like this..."  _Why is the human crying...?_

More soft pat sounds came from above, but the liquid didn't get through the crack like before. His eyes glowed a bit brighter, but he dimmed them quickly as his magic leaked from the wound on his leg.

A particularly strong  _Tha-Thump_  sounded from the dim light as he looked at the ever fading glow.

And then it went out.

_OH..._

_OH WAIT NO!_

_OH, MY GOODNESS! IS THE HUMAN DEAD?!_

It quickly came back, brighter than before.  _Oh, thank Toriel... Wait, I should not be concerned with their health-!_

A faint 'Bye Bye' is heard in the distance, but what stops his thoughts is the singing.

"I look upon a star..." He heard. "And I see night shift to day," He felt his strength returning and looked down to check himself. His HP was raising! What was this strange human doing? He looked over to his brothers as well and saw that there was a faint green glow coming from both of them, their HP was raising too!

 "I feel the grass grow, And I hear you next to me:"  He looked up and saw an actual face and not just shadows.

A human. A crying and smiling human. They were looking directly at him... Though he did not think that they knew they were... But... "You are a blessing for my weak heart."   _What?_

"You are the sunshine in the dark"  _...wh...why?_ He didn't realise his fibula was fully healed.

An 'aha!' sounded in the distance, but he barely noticed, entranced by the human's song. He felt shuffling next to him, his brothers must have woken up. He felt their presence on either side of him.

"You're the gift that I'll never part with..." The human closed their eyes and tears almost fell from them. "You're the missing puzzle piece I needed."

He knew his brothers felt it. He did too but... He didn't want to admit it to himself.

So many people had felt different, but when they decided to trust the person, they showed their true selves and betrayed him and his brothers. He couldn't let himself trust that feeling.

The light in front of them glowed a soft green light. And shined brighter with each word said.

A gunshot was heard and the three of them flinch, but a calming voice softly spoke to them. " ** _I will protect you_** _ **.**_ ".  _Who's voice was that?_   He made a confused face and looked at his brothers, they were looking at the glowing light. "I'll be there when the sky is blue, or rather when it's any hue." the human above them sung.  _Was that the human's SOUL that said that...? But... How?_

Another bang sounded outside and they all flinched again, but a calming sweep of emotions grounded him on the cardboard floor, looking up at the green light. He stared at it, astonished by the kindness that just emanated from this person.  _No, not kindness only..._  "I'll be here, with you." _Was that... Love?_

_How...? W-Why?_

Another thumping sound erupted from the Soul in front of them and it grew extremely bright as it came closer until a green heart shape emerged into the small box and cast a bright green glow over everything the light touched.

"I'll protect you." He heard the voice above them say. And then a loud sound came from outside the box, making them flinch and look to where they thought the sound came from.

"I won't let them hurt you anymore." His eye sockets widen, and he stared disbelievingly at the  SOUL in front of him, it shined a vibrant yellow and blue making green in the centre as the colours blended and swirled together. _How can a human, a HUMAN, be this...This...!_ The box shook a bit, He guessed that the human had finally decided to get up.

"Leave them BE..." He heard the human carrying the box say. The SOUL turned a fiery orange and red, whisps of magic swirling around in a green haze.

"WHY? THEY'RE MONSTERS!" He felt his brothers flinch when the angry human said that...

Faint clicking came from outside, and then the box moved in a spinning way. His brothers tried to speak to him, but he signed to them that it'd be too dangerous.

What he heard next, stopped him and his brothers from doing anything else...

"My mother always told me that the greatest good will always be pursued by a harmful evil. Maybe this is what she meant...? Heh... It... It was nice to meet you, even though I don't know what you look like..." Quiet patting of tears on cardboard filled their ears, and then the human chuckled. _They sound sad..._

"I meant it though," He felt the box constrict as the human held onto it tightly. Making the SOUL come closer to them.

And then the SOUL whispered and completed the human's sentence, glowing a bright neon green as they spoke in unison:

**"When I said I'd Protect You."**

He heard whizzes of air.

 

 

 

 

 

Wake up.


	9. Waking Up...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm a horrible person... ;-;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS GONNA BE REWRITTEN DO NOT READ YOU BEAUTIFUL HUMANS

Darkness.

That is all you see.

What you feel...? Wet.

Something's tapping your face.

Ow.

Rather hard- Ow.

...

Ow... Ow- OKAY, DUDE.

You groan. "Woah! Dude, I think she's alive!" A female voice said. The voice sounds rather gruff like it's used for yelling a lot. "HEY! PAP!" Oh Geez, here we go. "Yo, the human is alive! I thought they died or something- Hey They're Waking Up!"

"NYEH HEH HEH!" An even louder voice says if that's even possible. "HELLO HUMAN! MY NAME IS PAPYRUS!" _Please, not so loud..._  It's like he hears your prayers because he suddenly lowers his volume and continues. "My Friend And I Spotted You In An Area With A Lot Of Rocks And Cars, So We Thought We Should Help You! Good Thing We Did Since Your SOUL Looked Like It Was About To Shatter From Too Much Magic Use!" 

 _Wait- T_ _oo much magic use?!_

You're eyes shoot open and look around you, blinded by the light temporarily, you squint. Trying to make out the shadowy shapes in the grey. Sitting up immediately as you remember what happened. _The Bitties._

You hear the faint twittering of birds nearby as your head spins and you prop yourself up on your left hand. _So I'm in a forest...? **But what about the three bitties? Are They Okay?**_ You feel blades of grass slide against your fingers as you scrunch up your hand in a fist. Your hair frizzing up like raised hackles, signalling your alarm at the disappearance of your friends. _Friends...?_

You panic.

_**Where Are They?** _

You hear quiet gasps from the two figures standing by you. Concern literally seeping out of your very being, that much you can tell. As you hear stuttering answers coming from the two people in the shadowed grey of the forest trees. One steps forward and you look to see...

A skeleton.

A literal. Skeleton.

In your frantic state, the only thing you see is that he's wearing a red scarf, and has a weird metal-paint-thing on his arm. Also, he has coloured pencils strapped to his waist- Um... Pelvic bone- or wait, hip- AGH WHATEVER, SCREW DESCRIPTION.

But your concern for the bitties outweighs your curiosity at seeing _A Freaking Skeleton_ in the forest.

You start panicking. Because the bitties probably haven't been by themselves before. You had heard that bitties needed help to live, but when the bunny lady talked to you, she had said that they couldn't live without someone else to take care of them. So you were scared that they could die.

_I'm in a forest, so I'm probably in Berlin Park or Western Woodland..._

_Are there any wolves or predators that eat small people?_

_She didn't tell me about anything that could possibly eat them!!_

_Actually, that's probably common sense to know that they are in danger of possibly getting eaten by a hawk or something._

_OH, CRAP THERE ARE HAWKS IN BERLIN PARK._

_What If I'm in BP? What If They Fell Out Of My Grasp While I Was Flying Through The Tornado?!_

_CRAP NUGGETS!_

You almost forgot that you were in the presence of a skeleton and a female voice you don't know the appearance of- Oh wait, there she is. "Hey punk, I'm Undyne! Pap and I saw you lying on the ground north of Ebott. You were holding those three bitties and were barely holding on to yourself." The uh, Fish lady(Undyne) says, holding a glowing... Classic ink pen?? _What The Heck...?_ "They asked us to help you. Their HP was fully healed to the max and more, like they hadn't gone through a deadly tornado. Yours, however..." She rubbed the back of her neck. Ear-fins twitching in confusion. "Yours was in the negatives, it still is actually... Honestly, I don't know how you're even alive..." The woman looked at me, armour shining slightly in the grey light cast by the clouds and the sun behind them. Her hair waved slowly to the wind, red locks flowing over her shoulder casting a scarlet shade to her blue scales. Oh, she has gills.

Nice.

She's quite beautiful actually. "Miss Leala, We're Okay, Don't Worry!"

 You whip your head to the right, hearing the familiar voice.

There they are. 'They aren't hurt', you heard her say that, but you can't help but worry.

"Thank God..." Relief washes over you as you see Scarf, Hoodie, and Carrot all standing to the right of you.

They are alright.

_**They're alright.** _

_**They aren't hurt.** _

_**I think... I hope they aren't hurt.** _

"No, We're Okay Miss Leala." Scarf repeats, smiling up at you with bright eyes. "You Saved Us Yet Again." **He's using his quieter voice... Is he okay? Did something happen...?** He blushes and looks down surprised by being able to read your thoughts. You're surprised too, to be honest. Like how the heck does he even do that?

"Are you alright?" You ask again, even though that stunning fish knight lady(Undyne bro, Undyne.) told you they were okay. You were thinking of what could have happened while you were asleep. You aren't even concerned about the aching in your leg. You see them nod. You look at Hoodie and he's wearing a less tattered blue parka, over some black basketball shorts and pink slippers. Seeing Hoodie wearing new clothes, you look at Scarf, and see he's also wearing new clothes. A baby blue bandana that was tied in a bow behind his head, and grey pants and a white t-shirt with navy blue boots. Carrot is wearing an orange sweater with rust coloured cargo pants. Red sneakers accompanying the look.

They all look very nice.

And then you remember all the stuff you bought for them at the centre.

"Aw dang it!" Your outburst made the three flinch and glance up at you, but seeing as you weren't looking at them, they relaxed a small bit. "Your guy's clothes, and all the silverware I got you guys! I'm gonna have to replace those." You glance over to the bitties with a finger to your chin. Slowly lowering it as you see their faces. "What's wrong...?"

The expressions they wore.

Shock. Confusion. And most of all, sadness... And anger?

_Wait, why sadness?_

"You're worrying about us? The stuff you bought us? When you could have Very Well Died Back There?" Scarf's voice gets louder towards then end and it catches you off guard. He continues before you can say anything back. "MISS LEALA, YOU ARE MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN SILVERWARE OR CLOTHING!!" He stares at you incredulously. "HOW DARE YOU PUT YOURSELF DOWN LIKE THAT?" His frustrated stare calms down into a sad frown. "You're much more important than those things... You are much more important..." He sniffles. _Oh no, is he crying? Oh no oh no-_

"Please don't cry!" You say suddenly trying to calm him down, but it's not of any use. He starts full on sobbing now, leaning into his brother's shoulder. Carrot puts an arm around him and looks up at you with a look just screaming 'he  _is_ right, you know.' _Crap._ Literal guilt crushes your Soul as you do the first thing you could think of. Again. You reach down and put your arms around all of them, they still in your hold as if waiting for you to do something. _**I made him cry...**_

You all stay there for a while, motionless.

Until a whisper brought you out of your thoughts.

"I'm sorry I made you cry." Oh. It's your voice.

You barely recognise the soft tone as your own. Just barely... You almost don't hear the concerned and confused sounds of the little guys in your ears.

But you do.

You try to fight the feelings you know are growing inside of you.

But you can't... Or rather, you don't want to.

But... You're scared of this... Scared of getting attached to them.

You had just planned on taking them home and helping them, but when you saw them back in the garage smiling at you with joy... You couldn't do that to them.

Couldn't do that to yourself...

It would hurt too much to let them go now.

You inhale quickly, holding your breath and in turn having your heart beat louder with every passing second. Regretting dwelling on this thought for this long because now...

Now you remember why you always pushed people away in the first place.

_**Father will find me.** _

A silent tear falls down your cheek as you gaze towards the ground and let go of the bitties. You quickly wiped it away but... It didn't go unnoticed by the people around you.

**_He'll hurt them if I stay...!_ **

"Who's-" Carrot pauses, and lets out a breath. Looking up at your distant expression and watches as he sees your face turn from distant to very scared and panicked as he says these next words. It's possibly the worst thing he could've ever said to you at that moment. "Who's 'Father'...?"

You freeze.

You stare at him with eyes full of newly formed tears as you start to shake. Wind dying down to a small breeze, adding to the tense atmosphere of the forest. The birds aren't singing... There is only the sound of your quick and uneven breaths slipping out of your mouth, making soft noises of distress. Eyes wide and glazing over, you bring your knees up to your face to cover it, wrapping your arms around yourself in your fearful daze.

You don't feel yourself hit the ground. You don't hear the startled gasps of the people behind you, and you don't hear the bitties calling your name.

You just hear... N **o** t **h** i **n** g.

Darker.

D a r k e r...

**Y e t  d  a  r  k   e   r   .   .    .**

_It was noon. He hasn't done it this early before. I was about to go to school, but he had dragged me down to the special room and bound me tightly to the table with the leather straps that hurt my wrists._

_"Don't worry Lea, it'll only take a moment," Father said to me, bringing his knife closer to my arm as I struggled to break free from my leather bindings. The smell of alcohol invaded my sense of smell as he got closer to me. I jerked my head away from him and looked at my dark surroundings, lines blur in my vision as tears brimmed my eyes. The grey concrete walls gave me a stark reminder that I would never be able to get out of here until he said so..._

_Mom never knew about this. She'd said she loved him. She'd said that he couldn't change that he liked horror movies, that it was okay to have different tastes in hobbies. His hobby just happened to be hunting rabbits._

_She didn't know he was a great actor either..._

_"You'll only feel a slice and then we'll be done! We can go to Likky's after this if you're good and don't scream." He said sickeningly sweet, smiling as he dragged the knife across my already scarred skin. Red liquid seeped out of my new wound as he went at an agonisingly slow pace, the knife cut its way to my back, dizziness made its way to my eyes from the pain and I cried out for him to stop._

_I cried._

_He sliced._

_Wiped the knife._

_Repeated._

_It went on for hours._

_Time after time I called out for somebody, anybody to save me._

_I couldn't take it anymore._

_The pain was unbearable._

_It was worse this time._

_It was like he was never going to stop._

_I cried out again, voice cracked and damaged yelling out for anyone who could hear me..._

_Anyone..._

_..._

**_But nobody came..._ **

_He threw me to the ground an hour after I stopped screaming. I fell like a ragdoll, the feeling of a rough fabric beneath me as I gazed up at him. His confident and crazed stare piercing my own scared, weak one. Cold concrete stung my frail body, leaving the feeling of burns as I cowered on the floor beneath him. My fall had caused a layer of dust to come up off of the ground, which made me cough. Particles floated in the air as if time itself had stopped itself in apprehension. The tears from before that threatened to spill over finally did. And he just smiled..._

_"It's no fun if I can't hear anything coming from you." His teeth glinted in the light from the ceiling, sickly white turned yellow by the dimness of the hanging lightbulb. He crouched down to me. Putting his mouth to my ear, and whispered. The sounds enhanced by the close proximity, I could hear every movement and sound his mouth made._

_It was disgusting._

_"Next time, last longer. Okay, Lele?" There it was, that horrid nickname._

_He backed away, footsteps left the room and sounded up the stairs. Loud thumps echoed away, leaving me in complete silence to dwell on my thoughts for three hours I had left to recover until mom came home..._

...

*HoPe Decreased.


	10. Waking Up... Again.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You give them a gift they will cherish for the rest of their lives.  
> There is also the flashbacks of all three bitty babs.  
> Murphy's Law guys... Murphy's Law. ;)  
> 'Member dat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOOD HOW MANY TIMES YOU GONNA PASS OUT?  
> Stay awake for at least more than three chapters, geez bruh. :I
> 
> Btw.  
> 65 KUDOS AND 13 BOOKMARKS??  
> Holy shit on a tit!  
> I love you guys omg ;w;

You don't feel wet.

You don't feel cold.

All the opposite of those.

_Yay._

_Wait._

You open your eyes, slowly adjusting to the dim brightness of the ceiling lights.

You freeze.

_Dim brightness...I'm in a room-_

You sit up, heart hammering against your chest and you immediately check your wrists. You let out a breath of relief.  _No leather..._

You shake your head and blink, taking in the environment. Dark wood pillars line the corners of the creamy white themed room, a bedside table is set next to the comfortable bed you're sitting on.  _Nice flooring, the light brown adds a relaxed feeling somewhat._  

Oh, since when did you become a guru at room design?

Your swing your legs over the bed and plop your bare feet on the wooden floor, a slapping sound as a result. You giggle slightly and stand up, completely forgetting your near panic attack. Stretching your back and letting out satisfying popping noises, you sigh contentedly, opening the door to your right and looking out at a hallway with bright orange walls, it has other doors that you assume lead to bedrooms. Or bathrooms, maybe. 

You hear a thumping coming up stairs and you look to your right, seeing stairs there for the first time-

"HUMAN! YOU ARE AWAKE!" A loud voice bounces against your eardrums, but... You're used to it?? _A uh, skeleton. Oh right, Papyrus! He's the one who came with that fish lady. Undo- No wait! Undyne! That's what it was..._

"OH! YOU WONDERING HOW YOU ARE USED TO MY NATURALLY LOUD VOICE? WELL..." He strikes a pose, red scarf billowing behind him... Somehow. "WE USED MAGIC! SPEAKING OF MAGIC, HERE!" He reaches into his red shorts pocket and pulls out a bracelet with rainbow beads and a glass oval as the centre. Kind of looks like a watch. "UNDYNE AND I DECIDED WE WOULD LET YOU SLEEP, SINCE THE BITTIES THAT CAME WITH YOU WERE PRETTY... INSISTENT." He folds his hands together in a polite manner. "THEY ARE QUITE FOND OF YOU, I CAN TELL." He bows and walks down the stairs, maroon shoes tapping against the wood. "You May Come Down If You Like, They Are Waiting For You." His voice fades away and you hear faint talking. Huh, it sounds like that fish lady- Oh, speak of the devil.

"WHAT?! THEY'RE AWAKE ALREADY?!" you hear a banging noise. "LET ME SEE THEM!" You can hear a smile in her voice, don't know how you do but you just... You knew.

Blame it on magic.

You look at the watch-like bracelet and slip it on just as Undyne came barreling up the stairs.

"Hey, punk!" She smiles toothily at you and grabs your arm firmly, an emotion you can't discern hid behind her eye as she looks at you with a grin. "We were scared you weren't gonna make it!"  You stare at her, curiosity outweighing your suspicion. "Oh, you don't know, do you?" She lets go of your arm and puts her hand on her neck, rubbing it against her shiny blue scales. She motions for you to come downstairs when you hear a loud:

"SHe's AwAKe?" It was all of the bitties saying at the same tim-

_**The Bitties.** _

You rush past Undyne and don't see her smug expression, you almost fall down the stairs in the process of trying to get down them.

You don't care.

_What is this concern...?_

"MISS LEALA!" Scarf's voice.

"Hey, we thought you were a goner!" Carrot.

"We were really concerned for you, ya know?" Hoodie.

You didn't notice you ran over until the little guys started to ask if you were okay.

_Why do I care so much about them?_

You hug them.

"M-MISS LEALA...?" 

_**Scarf.** _

You hear a quick intake of air.

_What do they mean to me...?_

"H-hey, you okay?" 

_**Carrot.** _

He freezes.

_Do I dare to care about them...?_

"leala...?" 

_**Hoodie.** _

Stiffens.

_Do I dare?_

_..._

_Well, Mom always told me I was daring..._

You didn't realise you were crying.

 

Scarf's POV flashback~~~

 

When he and his brothers had gotten into Miss Leala's home house, she showed them around. The bathroom was the coolest part, it had a thing called a faucet. 'Water comes out of it' she'd said.

When she was done showing them everything they went to sit down on the sofa. He had gone down to sit on the fluffy looking chair seat and found that it was really comfortable! He'd told his brother to come and sit with him.

He teleported.

HE HAD TELEPORTED NEXT TO HIM.

He saw his brother flinch and look up at Miss Leala.

She was... Smiling??

But Why?

...She'd said that she didn't know they were brothers.

That's it.

That's all she said.

His brother asked her if she wasn't mad. Her look was confused but then... Then she frowned and her eyes widened. She was silent for a bit-

_**But magic is a part of a monsters being!**_   

He could only stare. Her Soul was  _talking_. 

_Talking!_

_How can it speak so easily?_ He wondered.

_**That's like telling humans not to walk, it doesn't make sense...!**_   

She had started to cry, shock and concern forced itself out of her Soul and through the air as if it wanted to let everyone know that she was concerned for... Them.

She was concerned for them...

She said she wasn't mad.

She said she wasn't mad that they used magic, that she wouldn't be mad if they used magic in the future...

_How can so much kindness exist in one person...?_

She'd said that she wasn't like 'those people'-

_OH NO._

_"_ O-Oh! No, we know that Miss Leala! It's just-" He trailed off.

_"You deserve to die! You pieces of filth! NOW DO WHAT I SAY."  Another human threw him into the pit and forced him to press the fight button-_

He shook his head and tried to smile.  "It's just that we..." His smile fell and his eyesight constricted. He wanted to go on but... He couldn't.

"we weren't allowed to use magic with  _them_."  He heard his other brother say next to him. "every time we did, we'd be...  **p u n i s h e d**."

It was silence after that.

_**p-punished...?** _

He looked up at Miss Leala and saw her look back. Her eyes lock onto each of them for a second.

_**Nope.**_   

_What? Her Soul again? How can she be so open-?_

_**m n** **t d** **ng**     **is**.  **I**     **an**_   

_What is she-_

_**NO.**_  

"I'm not going to ask what happened. Because I can clearly tell that it hurts you when you even think about it." She said to them, breaking his thought process. She sat up straighter and wiped her eyes. "But... That doesn't mean it won't effect me as well when I see you guys like this." She looked down.  _W...what?_

The pitter patter of rain came from the window, but she didn't notice.  _Ah, it's raining._

"It hurts... Seeing you with those looks in your eyes." She continued, the wind now blowing really loud. It started to hurt his hearing... He could barely hear the next words she spoke. "Even though I met you only just today, I feel like I need to stay." She chuckled. "I know, that sounds weird doesn't it?" She smiled sadly, but then that smile turned into an angry look.

 

Carrot's POV flashback~~~

 

He saw her expression shift into an angry one, he knew she was a good person, but he was still wary.  "And if those guys come back-" She stopped herself. His eyesockets widened as he realised she wasn't mad at them, she was mad at those humans...

She shook her head and a blank expression forced itself on her face.

He knew that expression.

That was the expression he always used when he didn't want to scare sans with his anger. 

"Let's just say..." She turned her head and looked at them. Her eyes were vacant as if she was somewhere else...  "They'll regret it."

Her soul turned a vibrant yellow, the cracks stood out even more than when she picked up their box... The cracks almost when straight through the shining heart. Suddenly the soul sent out a pulse of energy and the magic tingled at his fingertips, her soul changed colours rapidly as if deciding which emotion to rely on.

It stopped at a colour- or rather, three colours. Sincerity and kindness surrounded a circle of crimson determination, stars wrapped around her soul like a ribbon holding it together.

He could tell that his brothers saw what he saw. That they saw that one glimpse of a soul that was shattered and was held together with strings of perserverance before it was hidden by the other colours that changed in quick succession.

They all stared at her soul with wide eyesockets.

Then the rumbling started.

 

Hoodie's POV flashback~~~

 

_**Earthquake...!**_   

He heard her Soul scream before the whole place shook.

He'd almost lost his footing on Leala's lap as he looked up just in time to see her look down to them. "Have you ever dealt with earthquakes before?" He shook his head frantically.

He was panicking.

He didn't know what the heck an 'Earthquake' was.

Back in the lab, they didn't have those.

It sounded like it was outside, so was it one of those 'natural disasters' that the magazines sometimes talked about?

"What's an earthquake?" His blue scarfed brother asked.

He decided to find out what to do and how to react. "what do we do in this situation?"

"is it a natural disaster?" His taller brother asked.

Leala didn't have time to answer before a loud rumbling came from... Well, everywhere it sounded like.

The floor shook as dust fell from the ceiling. Small cracks formed on the walls and floor under the couch. It was like the whole place was breaking...

_**I ne...**_   

_Woah, her Soul just spoke again._

_How the heck does it do that so easily...?_

_Wait, what did it even say?_

A loud siren started to blare through the howling gale outside of the building which startled him and his other brothers. One of them actually fainted.

_Oh Crap._

_**I need to...**_   

_There! it did it again!_

**_Protect._**   

His eyesockets widened.

Her arms reached out for them. " **Hold onto me!** "

Well, he wasn't going to refuse that. Since she was probably their only way of surviving. His instincts took over and he grabbed onto her leather jacket and climbed to her neck. He hid his face in the crook of her neck, trying to calm himself down. She picked his scarfed brother up and stood up, which in turn jostled him a bit from hiding his face. He was forced to see everything transpire then.

The loud  _CRRAAAAAACK_ that came before everything went to crap.

It sounded like a tree falling overhead- the ceiling was falling down.

The ceiling.

Was falling down.

The Freaking Ceiling. Was FALLING.

He didn't even try to hide his screams, clinging to her skin so hard that his phalanges hurt.

**_Please hold on._**   

He felt her Soul pulsing with panic. Which also made him panic more. If he was in his right mind, he would have been surprised he didn't pass out yet like his scarfed brother.

Leala ran to a window in her living room and looked out, he did too. He was very confused about what he saw.  _The sky can turn green?!_

Everything quaked as Leala turned around to see a-  _Uh oh._

There was a giant crack in both the ceiling and floor and the kitchen looked like it was lifting out of itself- aaand it did...

The giant crack that caused it to was now spreading closer to them.

Way to elevate his panic, nature, great.

He felt her stumble and fall down and bang her arm against the arm of her couch, his phalanges lost their grip for a second and his mind blanked. Next thing he knew he was biting her neck to keep himself secure. 

He heard cloth hitting the far wall and then a giant  _SLAM!_

He saw blood trail down her neck and his eyesockets became black as he looked up to see where it was coming from.

Her head was covered in splinters, all jutting out at different angles. He would have puked if it weren't for the situation at hand.

He felt her body stagger and she raised her arm to feel her head. She brought her hand down and saw the blood, her face blanched.

Suddenly, everything floated.

But that didn't last long.

Of course.

He held on for dear life, digging his phalanges into any place he could to stop himself from being thrown off of her. Grey was everywhere, he felt Leala get hit with things he couldn't see. He felt her Hp lowering-

_**Don't**_   

Suddenly she grabbed him.

Another hit from something jostled her arm, but she didn't let him go.

_**Let**_   

He felt her Hp hit 1.

**_Go..._**   

A flash of green came from her Soul.

What he saw next... He should've never seen.

Because they weren't his memories. They were hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there.  
> How you feelin'? :3


	11. I See It On The Horizon...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened while you were asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm back!  
> I made a thing...  
> Although it's short, I will be posting another chapter later on. Though I don't know how much 'later' is going to be...  
> Anyway- TO THE STORY!

After Miss Leala's panic attack, she'd been taken to the house of the big skeleton and fish lady. 'Undyne and Papyrus' they said their names were. They had stayed with her for almost the whole time she was unconscious. It was only when Papyrus told them that she needed space that they had reluctantly left her be. The house was pretty nice when they got to look around. Miss Leala was taken up to a room on the second floor, it was a hallway that had no walls, except the ones for the bedrooms(Or bathrooms?). Their were railings on the side of the second floor, keeping anyone that was more than five inches tall from falling. They heard shuffling from their right and looked over at the same time.

"SHE'S AWAKE?" He and his brothers all said at the same time. He felt kind of proud that they did two things unanimously in a row.

_**The Bitties.** _

His breath hitches. _Miss Leala._

A pounding sound from the left of him caused him to look over, only to see Miss Leala almost fall on her face. But thankfully she wasn't hurt and ran down the wooden steps two at a time. _She's energetic for waking up just a moment ago..._

Her eyes landed on each of them, searching, worried.

"MISS LEALA!" He said enthusiastically, his relief very evident in his voice. But he did not care.

"Hey, we thought you were a goner!" His taller brother said with almost sustained concern.

"We were really concerned for you, y'know?" His hooded brother's voice wavered like he was ready to cry at any moment.

Her breathing quickened and sparkles brimmed her eyes.

Then she ran.

Her legs tripped over some things, but she didn't stop. His taller brother asked if she was alright. So did his hooded brother. _She just got up, she shouldn't be running like that! She could strain her human muscles!_

But before his worries could get the better of him, she wrapped her arms around them in a quick move.

He sputtered in surprise. "M-MISS LEALA ARE YOU A-ALRIGHT?" Her response to that was silence.

The warmth of her hug only added to the feeling in his own Soul... He felt loved.

"Hey, Leala, you alright there?" His taller brother asked concernedly, chuckling to relieve some of his stress. He could feel him shuffle and pat her arm for emphasis on his question. Her response to that was silence.

He didn't know how to explain it, but it was the word that popped into his head the moment his eyes locked on to her own when she was on the steps. When she ran to them with a desperation, a hope.

Love...

"hey, uh, leala? you're shakin' pretty hard there..." His hooded brother's trembling voice came from his right. Her response to that was silence.

He was getting worried. She hadn't said anything for a while now.

"M-MISS LEALA?" He started.

_**Scarf.** _

His breath hitched.

Was... Was she talking to him?

_She does know what it means to name a bitty... Right?_

_The kind bunny monster told her... So... So then she-_

She started to shake more, wet droplets of her tears made their way to the front of her shirt where he was.

"H-hey, you okay?" His other brother's voice said from his right, but he barely heard it.

She had named him...

_**Carrot.** _

Her arms tightened their hold on all of them and his hooded brother spoke up. "leala...?"

_**Hoodie.** _

Said brother stiffened.

He knew that his brothers were thinking the same thing...

 _She Named_ _U_ _s..._


	12. Voting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So far  
> 1 - has 3 votes  
> 2 - has 5 votes  
> 3 - has one vote  
> 4 - has 5 votes

Got the idea from UltimateGamer101 ;)  
But I was thinking of a blind vote thingy! ^^  
You will choose how the story plays out =)  
pick a number between 1 and 4 ^_^  
1 Someone  
2 Story  
3 Death  
4 Mystery

 

You can pick whichever one you liiike~!  
Toodles!


	13. A Memory...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You feel feelings.
> 
> The end is just the beginning as some say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Just wanted to let you all know that the chapter called 'Voting' will stay up! ^^

After waiting a while, you get your composure back and pull away.

Only to be met with smiling faces.

Scarf is smiling despite the fat cyan tears rolling down his cheeks. Carrot is grinning from ear to... well he doesn't have ears... So he's grinning happily, the rims of his eyesockets glistening with fallen tears. Hoodie is hiding his face in his hood, but you can see his smile and the small sparkles falling down his cheekbones.

You don't realise how long you sit there until you hear an 'Ahem.'

You turn your head and grin nervously at the skeleton before you.  _Crap, how am I gonna explain how I'm feeling..._  "Sorry, it's just... Well..."

He holds up a gloved hand and smirks gently. "IT IS QUITE ALRIGHT, HUMAN LEA." He kneels down to you, holding out his left hand for you to take. You do and he helps you upwards. Carrot and Hoodie teleport to your shoulders with Scarf, which causes you to jump a bit and let go of Papyrus. He looks at you and crosses his arms with a thoughtful smile. "WELL, THEY SEEM COMFORTABLE ENOUGH TO USE MAGIC IN FRONT OF YOU." Papyrus finally says after a moment of silence.

You flinch slightly. And of course, the bitties notice that. But before even one of them can say anything you start speaking. "They should be able to use magic anywhere..." You clench your fists tightly and look down at the ground. "Humans are just big jerks who need to learn the meaning of kindness and integrity." You remember those men from the car garage and your look turns sad. You feel a small hand on your cheek and your eyes look to the right and see Scarf touching your face with a concerned look on his skull. "I'm okay." You smile kindly, grazing his small phalanges with your fingers. He drops his arms away after a moment of reassuring him you were fine. He grumbles and sits on your shoulder for the next few minutes.

That is until Undyne barreled down the steps.

"Okay Punk! Time to tell us what's happenin'!" Her gruff voice echoes through the empty house, making it sound much louder than it actually is. Scarf stiffens and you feel a static like sensation tingle from your toes to your fingertips.

"She Doesn't Have To Say Anything."

You don't know which is scarier.

The fact that Scarf's voice dropped at least two octaves.

Or that he's saying that with such imminent threat that it sends a shiver down your spine.

Undyne's eyes snap to the little bitty on your shoulder in surprise, making the sparking feeling on your body even more prominent. but it's not painful, just uncomfortable. Her hands make placating motions as her wide eyes stare at the little one on your shoulder.

You don't know why, but you reach your hand up and rest it on the top of his skull, making his body flinch but slowly relax into your fingers. The tingly feeling goes away as his shoulders slump and he sits down, leaning against your neck.

All is still for at least thirty seconds as Undyne lowers her hands to her sides and straightens herself.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Undyne's voice is unnaturally soft, like a completely different person is speaking. Her gaze shifts your way and you see now that her eyes are gentle and the fins at the side of her head are drooping a bit. "I'm just worried about you..." Her yellow orbs seem to look through you at something you can't see. "Which is strange, because I only just met you a week and a half ago." She chuckles. "Although you were asleep for most of it." Her body turns slightly away from you, the light coming from the ceiling casting a shadow over her face.

Woah... Total change in demeanour.

"You were going to die you know." Her voice is barely above a whisper, but her stance is still strong. "Your HP was below zero, in the negatives. You should be gone, but you're not." She turns around and looks you dead in the eye as her brow furrows. "What I'm concerned about is what kept you alive. And  _how_  it did." She walks forward and places a webbed hand on the side of your arm, looking at you with an expression of concern. "So please, tell us what happened..." She lets go after patting you on the arm and walks over to the couch, sitting down she gestures Papyrus over with her hand.

As Papyrus passes you he puts a gloved hand on your arm and smiles at you in a reassuring way as if saying 'you don't have to'. He walks over to Undyne and sits to the left of her, making the couch fluff up like a new pillow.

With something like this...

...

Before, you didn't have a choice to choose.

Before Bob, everything was always obey or be punished.

Before all this happened everything was boring and redundant.

But now...

Now you have a choice to be able to say something, to tell your story.

To tell someone what he did to you. What they both did to you...

"Every person I've trusted and told this to has left me. The only person who hasn't is Bob, but he knew beforehand about what happened because he was there." You look up with a hesitant face, taking in their own expressions. Apprehension and worry. "How do I know you won't leave too?" You were also talking to the bitties on your shoulders. Even though you said you would stay, doesn't mean that they will when they hear about your past.

_How do I know they won't leave me like all the others?_

_How do I know they won't be freaked out and leave me alone for it?_

_Will they be disgusted towards me?_

_Will they judge me for what he did to me?_

You take a deep breath and square your shoulders, feeling the small bodies shift and move on them. Hoodie on your left with Carrot leaning on your ear, and Scarf on your right nestling his skull against your neck in a comforting way.

It made it hurt all the more.

Because they might not understand it wasn't your fault.

"ONLY WHEN YOU'RE READY, HUMAN." Papyrus smiles softly and waits for you to start.

"Yeah, we don't want to force you into anything." Undyne follows up.

They might not forgive you for not telling them in the first place even though you met them apparently a week or so ago, and your bitties a week and a half if you're counting right from what they said.

"Leala, please, you don't have to do this if you do not want to." Scarf's voice carries into your ear like a soft whisper. "I don't like to see you sad..." His head leans closer to the front of your face. He's probably looking at you now.

"l-leala, you don't have to do something that'll hurt you, that's the last thing we want..." Hoodie's low tone and soft concern make a thump sound from your chest. "We don't like to see you hurting like you don't like to see us h-hurting." You feel his small phalanges trace small circles on your neck. "It h-hurts to see you sad when you've been almost always cheerful t-this whole time..." His voice falters and cracks in some parts, but you get the message.

They don't want to force you into anything.

They'll let you not speak if you don't want to.

You take a moment to calm yourself and you go sit down on the couch opposite of Undyne and Papyrus.

Deep breath. "E-everything-" You force your voice to take on a calmer tone as you recount your past. Images fly through your mind making the breath you were breathing in hitch, and your vision blackens around the edges.

_Knives._

_Too many knives._

_He has a thing for knives._

_Cuts are never bandaged, he always leaves them for me to take care of._

_I have to make excuses for the scars and new cuts. If the teachers know, he'll just blame it on Mom._

_Lost friends again due to them thinking I was suicidal._

_He sent people to kill Mom and me at the subway-_

You feel Carrot tug on your earlobe. 

It was subtle, but it brought you back to reality. You take several shuddering breaths.

...

...

"Everything started eighteen years ago."


	14. 18 Years Ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welp...  
> That happened.

"I was an orphan. I didn't know who my birth parents were because I was so young when they died... Until Miss J picked me up from the streets and brought me to the orphanage, I lived in the alleys. I was about six was when I was taken to Sunnyside. That's what she told me at least. I don't remember much, but I'll try to say what I do remember." You breathe in and recall one of your more clearer memories where it all started.

 

_**~18 Years Ago~** _

"Miss J!" I said excitedly. "When are the grown ups coming??" I rushed over to her side, my fingers clung to her blue cotton dress and tugged impatiently. 

Miss J chuckled good naturedly and tucked a piece of her greying hair behind her ear. "They will be here soon, my dear." She patted my shoulder softly and sent me off to do my daily school work. I grumbled and went down the hall, my black shoes tapping rhythmically against the wooden planks below me as I trotted along, going the exact opposite way she told me to. I started to skip along the empty corridor knowing no one would see me here.

I turned the corner with jazz hands and stopped mid flutter. Well, I was wrong. Someone would see me here.

A tall adult stood a few feet in front of the door where Miss J usually entered to talk to the people who would adopt us- I silently gasped.  _Was he going to adopt someone!_

I smiled widely and giggled, wondering if it was Kell. He was the little boy I met when I first came to Sunnyside. He had always caused trouble, but I taught him that those things were bad because he wouldn't listen to Miss J. The adults that came really liked him and always complimented him for good behaviour nowadays.

The man a few yards away turned to my direction and I quickly scampered behind the tall marble pillar at the corner of the hall I came out from. I heard some muttering and footsteps come my way before the man came out from the side of the pillar and looked down to me. He had slicked back dark hair and a long brown trench coat held on his arm like he had just taken it off, making him look sophisticated and stuff. Like a butler! He had the suit for it as well. Although it wasn't really a suit, more like a sweater vest with a white shirt underneath, matching navy blue slacks and black shoes. He looked super snazzy!

"Hello, dear child." He smiled down at me.

"Hi, Mr. Beckahm!" I held out my hand for his to shake like I was taught we do when we greeted people sometimes, his eyes softened as he reached his hand to mine and shook it gently. My eyes brightened at the man and I smiled wider. "You look really fancy today!" He chuckled.

"Well, today is a special occasion after all." He winked playfully. "I know who is coming home with me." He smiled warmly. "Although I do need to come here some other times to meet with Miss Jace and let me see you before everything is final."

I gasped, eyes widening in shock. "Wait! Y-you're adopting me??" He nodded kindly and I smiled from ear to ear. I pounced on him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Mr. Beckahm!!" I could feel his stomach vibrate with a chuckle.

"My pleasure." He hugged me back.

 

_**~17 Years Ago~** _

I heard Father call from down the hall, it seemed he was looking for his fancy glasses. "One minute. I know where they are!" I barely had any time to finish sliding the shirt over my head because he walked straight through the door and stopped in his tracks, his eyes widened and he immediately covered them.

"I'm sorry Leala, I did not realise you were changing."

My small child arms finally slipped into the thick sleeves and pulled the striped sweater over my head. I gave an okay symbol. "I think your glasses are in the big cabinet next to the kitchen room." I was in the middle of changing so I couldn't go down there to look with him yet. Unless he wanted a half-naked 8-year-old running around his house, haha! "After I'm done I'll come with you to see if they're really there! Just- Oof! Gimme a minute!" I pulled myself off the ground, wrestling with those stupid leggings. Those black pairs were always hard to get on. Finally, after a minute of wrangling my tights up my legs, I made a triumphant sound and struck a pose. I was done! I looked over at him and noticed he had stepped a bit closer to me, I tilted my head in confusion. Didn't he need to find his fancy glasses?

"What do you need Father?" That seemed to snap him out of his uh... Whatever 'that' was, and made him look at me.

He blinked and then a guilty look appeared on his face. "Oh... I'm sorry Lea, but I just noticed a string of your sweater had come undone and I was thinking of ways to fix it. If I was staring I apologise." Oh! He always did fix mine and Leo's clothes when some threads came loose.

"It's alright! Now, let's look for those glasses!" I ran past him, bare feet tapping against the white tiling of the hallway as I sprinted down and stopped at the end. He was just standing there! He needed to hurry, the people might need those fancy glasses! (Whoever those people are.) "Come on Father!" I said impatiently and he chuckled, he walked over only to meet with air as I plunged down the steps with laughter.

 

_**-16 Years Ago-** _

"Leo, you said that Father had a surprise for me?" I was practically bursting with excitement when I reached the mystery room door. The oak wood looked nice with all the dainty cream walls surrounding it. The tiles clicked under my feet as I tapped my tennis shoes together impatiently, waiting for Leo to open the door.

He was fumbling with the old iron keys used for the locks in this house. All the locks were kind of old and still had... Uhm... 'skeleton keys' I think Father called them. Once Leo found the right one he exclaimed with an 'AHA!' and unlocked the door, swinging it open to reveal...!

The guest bedroom.

If this was the present he needed some teachings on what kind of present to give.

"Boo!" I yelped and backed into Leo who stood behind me. I looked in front and saw Father there with a goofy mask on. "Happy birthday my dear." He laughed and took off the mask, making me sigh in relief and giggle. I never really did like clowns. But of course, Leo probably said I loved them.

When I tried to walk into the room though, Leo grabbed my arm. I looked behind at him but I couldn't see his face cause it was covered by his blonde hair. "Leo? What is it?" That made him flinch and let go, his head turning left to look away from me. I heard a grunt from in front of me and saw Father standing straight and looking at Leo with a stare that could burn. "F-Father...?" His eyes glanced over to me and his face held a look that made me feel... Scared.

I needed to go.

Luckily, Leo thought the same thing.

He grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the doorway to drag me down the hall, barely saving me from being grabbed by Father. "No! I waited years for this and I will not let my own Son ruin it for me!!" I heard Leo choke out a sob as we continued down the hallway, winding maze like passages continued throughout the house, but eventually, we made it through the front door. When we ran outside... Leo shrieked.

" _You're no 'Father' of mine!!_ " That made Father stop in the doorway of the front. I glanced around quickly, taking in the greenery and flowers that were now dying due to it becoming fall. "A father would not do  _that_  to their  _own child!_ " Leo's words cut into my brain. Do  _what_  to his own child? What did he do? Or... what was he going to do?

A gentle chuckle broke my thoughts and I hadn't realised we were on the edge of our yard until I felt the sidewalk beneath the soles of my shoes. I looked over at Father who had stepped closer to us. "You don't understand, young Leo..." His smile turned sickly sweet. "I love her."

"You disgust me!" Leo spat in his face and ran for it, dragging me with him.

"Don't worry Leala! Daddy will find you soon!" His voice carried through the wind that was whipping against my ears. "We'll continue your birthday present!"  _B-birthday present...?_

_Wait... Was he going to do something to_ me _?_

The thought made me sick to my stomach and I wanted to puke, but I didn't have time.

The grey clouds of an oncoming storm rolled and boiled angrily in the distance. It was going to rain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't kill me *slowly inches away* IT HASN'T EVEN GOTTEN TO THE WORST PART YET ;A;  
> ...  
> Shoot I've said too much-


	15. hoi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi

hi guys, I'm so sorry I haven't posted for so long...  
First time: I forgot  
Second time: Just when I remembered to post it I found out I have appendicitis  
So I had to get surgery... Uhm. Yeah.  
I'm okay now, so don't worry!  
I have a lot more time to brainstorm now (if I'm not sleeping) and write  
I love you guys, thank you so much for being so patient with me... :')


	16. A Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I FORGOT I HAD THIS AHHHHH IM SORRY

You pause for a moment and look up.

Papyrus is looking at you with... Actually, you can't read his face. Undyne, yes you can.

"NGAAAAAHHHH!!!" She flips the coffee table which is engulfed in orange magic right after and set back down on the wooden floor. "That Guy!!!" She crosses her arms in anger. To hold herself back from doing any other destruction, you think. "Why in the HELL would he try to do that to you?!" She plops down back on the brown couch next to Papyrus who was sitting silently on the right side.

"Undyne, Getting Angry And Destroying Things Will Not Make Everything Better." Papyrus's voice was usually very loud, friendly. Hearing the quiet and even tone sent shivers up your spine.  _I wonder if they're angry at me...?_  You twiddle your thumbs in silence as Undyne rages on. At one point you turn your head down to lessen the noise a bit. 

It touches you that she cares about you so much, despite her meeting you only... What, a week or so ago? Ever since you woke up, the time has been weird. It feels like you were only asleep for a day. But nope, it was a week or something. Maybe if you fell asleep one day, you might never wake up? You didn't realise how long you were looking down and wandering through your own thoughts until you felt a small hand tap against your cheek. You blink- oh you were crying. You quickly wipe away your tears and look up.  _Why am I crying?_

Undyne is quietly sitting on the left side of the couch. The fins at the side of her face drooping a little bit and a guilty look on her face. "Sorry..." You barely hear her voice. It sounds so small compared to her usual gruff, loud tone.

You miss the loud Undyne, she wasn't meant to be sad. "N-no! You don't need to apologise for anything, Undyne!" You wave your arms in the air, being careful not to jostle the little people who were still on your shoulder. Luckily, they teleported off of your shoulders and onto the arms of your chair. You made a quick thank you look towards them which Carrot returned with a small thumbs up. Huh, seems they weren't that affected by your story.

 

**Carrot POV~~~**

He was disgusted.

No, not at you.

At that man who called himself your 'Father'.

He doesn't deserve that title.

Your head was down and Undyne was raging on about how this guy doesn't deserve to be your father. Well, at least the fish lady agrees with him. A trembling came from beneath and he looked down. You were shaking... 

Hoodie seemed to notice as well because he got up from his position that was leaning against your neck and went to the front of your face. He floated there for a minute before landing on your left shoulder where Carrot was. His hand reached out and rubbed your cheek carefully, he was probably using some magic to help you and that seemed to shake you out of whatever reverie you were lost in. By that time, the fish woman had quieted down and was sitting next to a silent Papyrus.

You looked around, making your hair brush his face. He looked at Hoodie and realised he was trying to sign to him. He made a sorry motion with his hand and nudged him to continue.

_**What do you think happened?** _

Well, if he had to tell anyone about his past, he would dwell on the memories afterwards.

_I don't know, probably stuck in a memory._

_**Oh... We do that sometimes, so I can understand.** _

_Yeah._

They stopped signing when they saw that Papyrus was looking at them with interest. Magical orange sweat gathered on Carrot's head and he looked away from the studying gaze. It seemed that Hoodie had the same idea because he pulled his hood over his head and snuggled closer to your neck.

That is until you started waving your arms.

He had been so engrossed in his own conversation with Hoodie, that he hadn't even heard you and Undyne speaking. He grabbed Hoodie and teleported to you right shoulder where Scarf was and grabbed him as well, shortcutting to the right arm of the chair you were sitting on. He turned around and gave a little thumbs up at your glance. You smiled softly and looked back towards Undyne.

 

**Your POV~~~**

 

You were slightly relieved that they weren't that affected, but it also worried you that they might not have been listening. Because you don't think you could go through telling this again.

After you say that it was okay for the umpteenth time, Undyne's fins perk up a bit and she asks if you still want to tell anything else.

You pause for a moment before nodding. "Yes, but... Can I take a little break first?" Undyne smiles toothily.

"Take as long as you need punk!" She stands up and excuses herself loudly. "Gonna go get some water, all that yellin' made my throat thirsty for some H20!" She shoots towards the kitchen with the speed of a bullet. You watch her mull about in there until Papyrus coughs totally-unsuspicious and you look his way. His face is covered by a gloved hand so you can't see what his expression is.

"Is He Still Roaming Around...?" He asks quietly.

You nod, smiling sadly. "Yes, he is... But the police are looking for him still, so I'm sure he'll be found someday!" You try to put on a positive smile and hope that that gets through to him.

He was about to say something, but Undyne came running into the living room from the kitchen and looks at her watch, dramatically cutting him off. "Pap I need to go NOW!" She puts a webbed hand to the side of her face. "I promised Alphys I would watch a movie with her." She winks and then grabs Papyrus's skeletal arm and shoots for the door, handing you her number in the process. "CALL ME IF YOU NEED ME!!!" And with that, she rushes out of the entry way to the house.

Dragging Papyrus along with her.

Yup.

Okay, now you were in a house that was not your own.

You were alone with three small people.

What could go wr- Nope, you jinxed it last time...

Something could definitely go wrong.


	17. h-hewwo...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;-;

Hello guysuuuu I'm going to rewrite some of this fic because it just feels like there is so much going on and I don't want to overload you guys by dumping heaps of story on you that you wouldn't have time to process, so I'm gonna edit some chapters!

Some not much, but others I might have to take some medium sized chunks out of-

Also:

I AM SO FREAKIN' SORRY I HAVE BEEN ABSENT HOLY HECC I FEEL HORRIBLE I HAVE NO EXCUSE I WAS JUST LAZY AND FELT LIKE DOG CRAP AND WAS REALLY TIRED AND GOT INTO ART BUT THEN WAS LAZY TO DO THAT AND AND AND *faints*

\- Note from future me - 

I love you guys :3

pls forgive this lazy pile of turds for not providing you with more readage.


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